Sins of the fathers
by Nat87
Summary: S4 A new memeber joins APO, she has past connections to Jack, and Vaughn doesnt trust her... and he might be justified.FINISHED! PLEASE R
1. Chapter 1

**Sins of the fathers**

**Summery: **

**This is my pervious (and unfinished) Fanfic "Trained". The story is about a new member joining the APO, Tracy Maxwell, after her cover is blown while she is on a deep cover mission. Jack and Tracy seem to have a connection in their past, and Vaughn is constantly suspicious of Tracy… and he might be right.**

**Disclaimer: **

**I do NOT own anything ALIAS related. Show, characters, or other wise. I am a mere fan who writes fan fictions out of extreme boredom… blah blah blah…**

**A/N: This fiction is completed so don't worry about me not finishing… its just that all the chapters are still in their rough form. So feel free to comment freely, some of your suggestion might end up in here. But no going over board. **

**Here are the first 3 chapter… Please… R&R.**

**Chapter One**

"How could you do this Natasha! I welcomed you into my home, like you were family! And what do you do? You betray me!"

Sergey was shouting, outraged, gun in his hand. He constantly moved his hands when he was angry, and angry was an understatement to his current state of mind.

In front of him were two of his strongest guards were holding a struggling, determined woman, in her twenties. She looked at him defiantly, to clearly send the message that she wasn't afraid. She gave him a mocking smile, and he rushed towards her. He grabbed her face in his hand and pressed his gun against it.

"Who the hell are you!" he continued to shout in Russian.

When the smile on the woman's wouldn't move, he hit her with the butt of his gun. Her head bent down, and she soon spit out some blood. She lifted her head to show him she was still smiling mockingly though blood covered her mouth.

Sergey raised his gun again and aimed it between the smiling woman's eyes. A mincing look on his face.

"I don't care who you work for! I just want you dead! You bit-"

He was interrupted by the sound of distant gunshots. He looked towards the sound and the woman took her chance to slam her head against his. He let out an inhuman cry of pain.

"TRAMP!" he screamed at her. And again the gunshots sounded. He kicked in the head and her head slumped down.

"Keep her here until I see what this whole commotion is about!"

The men let go of the woman, who fell to the ground, knocked out. Sergey left to where the gunshots were coming from.

Where Sydney Bristow was.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"They're all over me! I need someone here now!" Sydney shouted into her comm. Marshall struggled to hear her over all the static on the other end.

"Phoenix, do you copy? Phoenix? Raptor and Shotgun are on their way… do you copy?"

Sydney didn't hear a single thing, and finally gave up. She ripped the comm. Out of her ear, and shouted out in frustration. She peaked out from behind the wall she was huddled by, let out two gunshots and took one of the guards out.

"Three down, one to go" she whispered to herself. She loaded her last ammo magazine, and fired at the last guard. He went down.

Now all she needed was to get to that door.

She carefully got to her feet, and stepped out from behind the wall, the cost was clear. But she didn't see the man watching her until the bullet hit her in the back of the shoulder.

The force knocked her to the ground, face first. By the time she managed to turn over she saw a man with a cold stare looking down at her. His big gun aimed at her head.

"You're here to get our Natasha out from the trouble she managed to get herself into, I assume." His spoke in a clear, accent-less Russian.

_This must be Sergey_, Sydney thought. _The big boss._

All his other associates were French, his base of operations being south of Paris.

_But who is this Natasha person? _Sydney was sent here to take back a disk Sergey's henchmen stole last week. This was a basic grab and run kind of operation, not an extraction.

"Well, you see, I can't let that happen. Natasha has stepped on my heart. I thought she was my late brother's daughter, I truly loved her. But all she was, was a traitor. And I will enjoy killing her soon enough. But first, let's make sure you don't get in the way."

Sergey loaded his gun and put his finger on the trigger ready to give it one little squeeze.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The woman groaned as she stilled back into consciousness, she hasn't been out of it for a minute but she felt like she was dead for ten years.

_That son of gun!_ She thought to herself. _I'm gonna kill Sergey!_

She looked up to see one of the guards grinning at her. The look in his eyes was painfully obvious, desire.

"How about a little kiss?" his voice gruff for a Frenchman.

The woman gave him a flirty little smile.

"Why not I'm gonna die anyway, might as well have a little fun" she said in low French voice.

The guard leaned in for a kiss, and closed his eyes. The woman grabbed a tube from the floor and hit him over the head. His dead weight fell on her, but she managed to push him off.

Once up on her feet the other guard ran towards her, guns blazing. He shot a couple of times as he ran, but missed the woman both times. As he got closer she charged at him and knocked the gun out of his hand.

He punched her and she fell to the ground, he was a big man. He kicked her in the stomach, and she let out a pained _humph_, and rolled over. She was getting angry, that was never a good.

Her vision was getting blurry as she braced herself for what was coming.

When she got to her feet, the guard looked at her, horrified by the look in her eyes. He tried, pointlessly, to defend himself, but soon his lifeless body hit the floor. She broke his neck like it was some sort of twig.

The woman didn't look twice at the body that lay on the floor, as dashed away, looking for Sergey. Now _that_ guy _really_ made her angry.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Sydney swallowed her breath and held it in.

She looked back at that man with the cold eyes, he was going to shoot her, there was no doubt about that, his eyes held no hesitation.

"SERGEY!" a voice behind the man, attracted both his attention and Sydney's.

Sydney would have kicked the gun out his hand at this point, but the wound was bleeding profusely, and she was beginning to feel lightheaded.

"Well, well, well! I should have never underestimated you Natasha. That mistake will never happen again. Jean-Paul, Marcus!" Sergey said arrogantly, and Natasha laughed at him.

"They're dead Sergey! Every last one of them. Dead and cold… just like Chris." The woman said bitterly. "You remember Chris Richards, don't you Sergey? You killed him with out a second thought!"

"Richards? Ah, that's right! The CIA scum. So that's who you work for… the CIA. I guess you're little friend here is CIA too." He kicked Sydney cruelly.

Pain flashed through Sydney's whole body, and she struggled to keep the cries of pain in.

The woman didn't know who the hell the person on the floor is, so she thought it would be wise to keep her mouth shut about it.

"I wonder if she will beg for her life, like Richards did. Such a coward!" Sergey spit on the ground.

"Richards was a hundred times better than you! He would never beg!" The woman's voice cracked with anger and emotion. "HE WOULD NEVER BEG!" she shouted.

"He begged like a dog!" Sergey taunted.

There was a moment's pause, and then the woman lunged at him, and knocked him down. His gun falling out of his hand. Sergey recovered his feet quickly, and sent a punch straight to the woman's right cheek, she, too, recovered fast enough and answered with a shower of punches and kicks.

Sergey was in a good shape, excellent shape. But this woman was in an amazing shape. She blocked most of his punches and kicks, and delivered powerful ones back to him. Soon they were both panting, and bloody.

Sydney had managed to sit against the wall, watching helplessly. Her eye lids were getting really heavy and she wasn't very coherent.

Sergey delivered a kick that knocked the woman to the ground, where she found the gun quickly and raised it towards him. Instantly his hands were in the air, and he backed up.

The woman was back on her feet, and walking slowly towards Sergey who was simultaneously backing up.

"Tell me again how you killed Chris!" She shouted pointing the gun at Sergey accusingly. "TELL ME!"

"Natasha… it doesn't have to end this way…" he began to plead.

"Beg for it! Beg for your life, Sergey! BEG!" the woman just shouted at him cruelly.

"Natasha…"

"No Sergey! On your knees, now! NOW!" Her eyes flaming with anger.

Sergey didn't utter a word. He just got down to his knees, and put his hands behind his head.

"Natasha…" he said calmly, trying to sooth her.

"That isn't my name… you will die at the hands of a woman that you don't know the name of! Oh how the tables have turned!"

Sergey knew that this was it; this woman had no forgiveness in her anymore, not for him anyway.

"Pray for forgiveness, Sergey. I just hope God will ignore your prayer tonight."

She looked him in the eyes, and fired a shot to his head. Sergey's lifeless body fell backwards. She stepped closer and let out three more bullets from her gun. Sergey's body was lifted from the ground with every bullet, and blood seeped from the wholes in his body.

The woman just looked at Sergey's body, a while later she let the gun slip from her hand and fall to the floor. Soon she was down on her knees. Sydney could see tears falling from her eyes, and she heard a pained whisper.

"I'm so sorry, Chris. I'm sorry."

Sydney continued to watch the woman, who now appeared younger, frailer. After a minute the woman glanced over to Sydney, with a questioning look.

"Are you ok?" she said in an American accent, obviously her native tongue.

"I'm shot" Sydney managed to say.

The woman got to her feet, concern in her eyes. She came close to Sydney, and crouched to her level. She traced her finger delicately around the gunshot wound.

"What did that guy do that was so bad?" Sydney said softly, and nodded towards a lifeless Sergey.

The woman didn't even look away from the wound.

"He killed a friend. A very good friend of mine."

Sydney just nodded, not wanting to pry.

"You CIA?" the woman asked, and looked into Sydney's eyes. Her eyes an eerie ice blue.

Sydney was about to make up something when she heard a familiar voice.

"Freeze!" Vaughn said forcefully and cocked his gun.

The woman looked at Sydney, who nodded to her, it was ok. She put her hand behind her head, and got up to face Vaughn.

"Sir, I was just trying to help…"

Vaughn just hit her with the butt of his gun on her jaw.

"That's gotta stop happening to me!" she said holding her jaw, bleeding again.

"Not a word out of you!" he aimed his gun at her. And the woman put her hands up again.

"Vaughn…" Sydney let out weakly.

"What the hell did you do to her!" he shouted.

"I didn't do…." The woman protested.

"I said not another word!" Vaughn said angrily.

"I hardly believe that this amount of force is needed Mr. Vaughn." Jack stepped out of the darkness. "Get Sydney out of here, and I'll take care of our new friend here."

Vaughn just nodded and put his gun back in the holster. He approached Sydney and bent down to pick her up.

"You ok, Syd?" he said delicately into her hair.

"She helped me.." she whispered to Vaughn, as he walked out of the building to the helicopter waiting outside for them.

Jack turned towards the woman, who seemed surprised to see Jack.

"I guess you can never believe what you hear around the office." she said simply.

"You _know_ you never can." Jack answered in a similar tone.

"So that's Sydney, huh?" she nodded towards the door.

"Yes."

She just nodded, an awkward moment settling in between them, finally she broke the silence.

"Well… it's good to see you Mr. Jack Bristow."

Jack smiled at the memory the simple sentence triggered.

"It's good to see you too, Ms. Tracy Maxwell."

He paused for a moment for a good memory to sink in.

"Come along now, Tracy. Let's go home."

Jack guided Tracy towards the door and the helicopter waiting to take them to a safe house.

Vaughn, holding a passed out Sydney, didn't seem to like this new character that joined them on their flight back to the Paris safe house.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter Two**

Tracy Maxwell sat in conference room in the APO Head Quarters. She was brought here in blindfolds, which only added to her apparent disorientation.

She gingerly touched one of the many bruises that covered her face; they were turning a dark blue. They gave her face, along with angry red gashes, a rather artistically exotic look. In short, she felt very colorful.

Tracy was obviously worn out and tired, a blind man could see it. She tried to rest her head on the conference table in front of her, but when her forehead touched it an angry flash of pain ran through Tracy's body. She pulled herself, surprised, only to be assaulted by another wave of pain.

She cursed and wished she took that Doctor up on his offer for a sedative, or a painkiller. Tracy just sat there for a while, unmoving, fearing another wave of pain.

"You should have stayed at the hospital." Jack calm voice came from the door way, he was so serene it was chilling.

"No, thanks, Jack. I don't do hospitals." She didn't look at him, she just stared straight ahead.

It had been years since she last saw Jack, three to be exact. When his daughter "died" he came to her, pieces of the man she knew, later he was taken off to prison for looking for his daughter. It was hard to settle back where they left off.

He came closer to her slowly, always in his dignified waltz of walk, for some reason Tracy always thought of as the traditional dance. Organized, not spontaneous in anyway. Jack slipped a little medicine bottle to her.

"Painkillers. The doctor at the hospital told you will need them when all that adrenaline clears out of your system." Jack spoke matter-of-factly.

Tracy reached for the bottle as Jack walked towards the corner of the room to get her some water. As soon as he was back with it, Tracy hungrily swallowed the pills.

"Thank, Jack." She said quietly and closed her eyes, hoping the medicine will kick in soon. Very soon.

Jack just waltzed over to a chair across from hers and sat down. He waited with his hands intertwined in front of him for Tracy to open her eyes.

"I'm not gonna like this, am I Jack?" She said with her eyes still closed.

Jack let out a deep sigh.

"No." he said shortly.

Tracy opened her eyes, and painfully sat up.

"Well come on, Jack. The more you keep the bad news waiting the worse it gets. You taught me that remember?" Tracy looked Jack straight in the eyes and braced herself for the worst.

"You're dead." Jack said, breaking eye contact for a second.

"That's what I feel like, Jack. So what's the big news?" her voice was scratchy from the pain.

"Tracy, please, this is no time for wise cracks. You are officially dead. The CIA is declaring you so." Jack spoke forcefully, and for once Tracy heard the old Jack.

Tracy just sat there motionless, just taking the information in. Jack didn't speak, he didn't ask her if she was ok. She wouldn't like that, she never did.

Finally Tracy gave out a long sigh, and settled back into her chair.

"So I'm dead to the world?" Tracy looked at Jack, who didn't quiet look at her.

"Other than the people in this office, and a couple of people at Langley… yes."

Tracy looked away.

"So I guess there isn't going to be a plane waiting to take me to DC in the morning is there?"

Jack just shook his head. _She is taking this well_, her thought, _too well_.

"So I can safely make an assumption that this place is black ops." Tracy didn't wait for an answer and just went on. "Well I guess this is for the better."

"What about Rich…" Jack began to ask. When he was interrupted by Tracy.

"You don't have to worry about that." She said shortly, dismissing the whole issue with a wave of hand.

Jack decided not to pry, he never does. Tracy will tell him, when and if, she is ready to. All he could now is take her word for it.

"Very well then. From now on to the people outside the walls of this organization you are Pamela Lambert, returning student at the university. You will become a member of this organization, affective immediately. You will stay as "a paper pusher" if you will, until your psych evaluation, and obviously until you get better physically, is that understood?"

Jack wrapped up a little speech; he actually practiced it a couple of time before he faced Tracy.

"Yes, but I do have one question. Where am I going to stay?" Tracy said lightly, as if she didn't mind sleep at a couch around here somewhere.

"An apartment will be arranged for you as soon as possible. Until then, you are welcome to stay with me." Jack said in a tone that was anything but welcoming. But he did want Tracy to take him up on his offer.

"I guess if you're fine with that, its ok with me."

Tracy just shrugged, and Jack got up from his chair, wordless telling Tracy that they should get going.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

When Sydney started to drift back to consciousness, all she could hear was the beeping of machines, then slowly other sounds began to come. Someone's voice over an intercom, footsteps, some rushed some slow, and the voice of someone's breathing next to her.

She couldn't remember how she got there, and her head hurt every time she tried to think about it. She heard a rustling next to her, and heard someone take a deep breath.

Sydney began to open her eyes. First it was only a blur, then everything came into focus. Her doubts about her whereabouts where confirmed, as she looked up at a dull hospital wall, and saw some machines in the corner of her eyes.

Then it came back to her, the mission went wrong somehow. She was cornered and shot in the shoulder. A woman with icy blue eyes killed Sergey before he killed her.

Sydney tried to move her head to the direction of where she heard the rustling. But she was assaulted by a stab of pain, and she took a sharp breath to stop herself from crying out in agony.

There was more rustling, and then an unmistakably familiar voice.

"Syd? Syd, are you ok?" it was Vaughn, concern apparent in his voice.

"Vau…" her voice was barely audible and very groggy.

"Shh, Sydney. You don't have to talk it's ok. Are you in pain?" he said his voice a kind and soothing whisper.

"a little…" she managed to let out.

"I'll go call a nurse." Vaughn was getting to his feet, when Sydney placed his hand on his arm to stop him.

"What about her?" Sydney tried to clear her throat.

"Sydney, you shouldn't be talking. I'll…" Vaughn tried to change the subject.

"Vaughn." Sydney tried to sound as forceful as possible.

Vaughn looked into Sydney's eyes and saw a determined look. She isn't going to let this go.

"Last I heard, she declined a recommendation to stay at the hospital, and was taken back to APO. I think your dad is over there briefing her as we speak. She's CIA from DC on deep cover, that's all I know for now. Now can I please get you a nurse?" Vaughn pleaded.

Sydney just nodded and let go of Vaughn arm, who dashed towards the nurse station. Soon enough he was back with a nurse with a needle, that she stuck into Sydney's IV and shortly went back to dreamless sleep.

About ten minutes after that, Vaughn fell asleep on his chair. He had a dream about this CIA agent. He didn't like her very much.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"I don't mean to sound like a jerk, but I'm sort of happy your sister and Vaughn aren't hanging around tonight."

Weiss said leaning on a counter and talked to Nadia, who was putting some TV dinners in the microwave.

"Weiss! How could you say something like that!" Nadia was mildly shocked, she knew Weiss never thought about what he said. She knew he was worried about Sydney.

"Look I don't mean it like that! I don't like the idea that your sister is laying is a hospital bed, with my best friend slumming over in a chair sleeping next to her. But you have to admit, they act like an old couple!" Weiss spoke animatedly with his hands flying everywhere to emphasize his point.

Nadia couldn't help but let out a little chuckle, she hated to admit it, but Syd and Vaughn were too familiar with each other. It felt like being with couple married for ten years.

"See! See! You're laughing! You know I'm right!" Weiss spoke excitedly.

He rushed over to Nadia and lifted her tiny, but strong, frame and spun around.

"They'd never do that!" Weiss said as he put Nadia down.

"No they wouldn't, and for good reason too!" Nadia said, holding her spinning head but still managing to smile.

Weiss just bent down and kissed Nadia softly on her lips. Nadia was surprised but recovered herself.

"What was that for?" she said smiling and blushing.

"A kiss to make you feel better.. we kinda do that in America…" Weiss began to joke but was interrupted by another kiss from Nadia.

"Wow!" he stammered, "that was… wow!"

"C'mon. forget about the TV dinners and lets go out to eat, I can teach you some Spanish on the way." She reached for his hand and he took it. Soon they were both out the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Come on now, Tracy. You need to work with me….. Here we go we're in the house now." Jack spoke loudly, hoping Tracy would be more responsive, she wouldn't.

She had obviously had taken one too many painkiller pills, and now she was hanging limply to Jack's left arm. She murmured some words Jack didn't really follow. But she seemed to be apologizing to someone.

"Oh to hell with this!" Jack just gave up and lifted Tracy into his arms.

He carried her through the well decorated halls of his house to the guest room, where he laid her down gently on a bed that hadn't been used.

It suddenly occurred to him that she has nothing to wear; he made a mental note of buying some things to wear. For now he just took off her shoes, and covered her with a flat sheet.

He felt she was getting a little feverish. The painkiller should take care of that, but he decided to check in later on her during the night.

When Jack got up to leave, Tracy sleepily grabbed his arm.

"S-stay" she managed to whisper.

Jack didn't say a word. He just sat back on the side of the bed, until Tracy fell asleep, and let go of his hand.

It's been a while since he took care of anyone that was in Tracy's state. In fact the last time, it was a younger Tracy, with a viral throat infection. Tracy's father had just gone missing, leaving the child no one but him, and an aunt she never knew. And Tracy just wouldn't let go of him that night, he slept in a chair beside her.

He was never a warm man, but Tracy always found love in the driest person, and she will help a dry person find love.

He looked back at Tracy's bed one last time, and closed the door behind him. For the first time he realized that Tracy had become his daughter when he had never seen Sydney.

"Oh God! Look what we did, Turner." He let out a sigh and walked towards his room, what they have done can't be changed, and it can't be forgiven.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

"Good morning, everyone. Lets get to business shall we?" Sloan stood at the end of a table in the APO HQ. He wore his usual dignified suite, and stood in his discreetly dominating way.

Tracy could feel a little hidden hostility towards him from the others. Not a big surprise after what Jack told her about the man that is now her boss.

"I'd finally like to introduce to you our new associate: Ms. Tracy Maxwell." He gestured towards Tracy, and if she didn't know any better, she would think this man was one of the kindest she had seen.

"Ms. Maxwell has been part of CIA for the last five years, up until the unfortunate exposure of her cover, on our mission last week."

Everyone nodded. The mission was a sure disaster, Sydney is out of the hospital but homebound for a while, and Jack readmitted Tracy to the hospital after she caught a mild pneumonia.

"However," Sloan's tone got more serious. "Ms. Maxwell was declared dead by the CIA, and to the people outside these walls she is now Pam Lambert, a student at the university. I am hoping Ms. Maxwell will become a full time field agent, but that is pending her psych examination, and regaining her strength."

After that it all went back to normal, Sloan continued talking about the mission that the team had two days from now, they couldn't take on something too serious with Sydney out of the picture for a while. They were shorthanded.

Tracy is to stay in the office and work with the Tech guy Marshall. She had met him before the briefing, and he seemed nice enough, a bit too eager on thanking for saving Sydney, but a nice guy.

When the meeting was over, Tracy went back to the tech office with Marshall.

"You know all those cool gadgets on those James Bond movies? 007? Yah well… I'm in charge for those around here. And I gotta tell ya… those screen writers have nothing on Marshall Master." Marshall spoke eagerly and quickly.

Tracy just smiled at him, even though she hadn't known him for more than half an hour, she was really taking a liking to him. She had heard some things about him when she was CIA. The last tech guy she worked with spoke about him, like he was a god.

"I bet they don't!" she gave him a warm grin. Then she noticed a picture on the wall. "Hey… who's the little guy?" she touched a picture of Mitchell.

"That my big boy… Mitchell. He's my son, and… oh you wanna see more pictures of him, I got like a ton of them on this flash drive?" Marshall spoke like an excited little child, waving around a flash drive with some sort of race car on it.

"Sure! We don't have to do anything right now, show me some pictures."

Marshall ran over to the nearest computer and plugged the flash drive in. he held out a chair for Tracy to sit, and she took it.

"Thanks" she said as she sat down.

"No problem…" he took a seat and typed up a storm on the keyboard. Soon some pictures of an adorable little boy came on. "Here we go… that's Mitchell and me at the park…"

Marshall continued showing Tracy pictures and telling her adorable little stories with each one. She listened keenly, and enjoyed watching Marshall talk about his son and wife. He was so animated and happy; his eyes were going wild with sparkles. Some how, she envied this kid on the screen. She never really had a family, except for Jack and Aunt Gloria. But she never knew neither of them well.

"This one… was just a month after Marshall was born, and he wouldn't let Carrie sleep…" Marshall went on talking but was suddenly interrupted by someone clearing his throat at the door, it was Jack.

"Tracy do you mind if I talk to you for a while… in my office." He spoke with his smooth calculated voice again, and it bugged Tracy every time he did it.

Tracy just looked at Marshall apologetically, and he just smiled and shrugged. She looked towards Jack.

"Sure thing. C'mon." she walked over to him and they both walked out of the tech office.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Hey Syd! I brought you some lunch!" Vaughn shouted out when he walked into Sydney's apartment.

"I knew there was reason that I love you!" Sydney said jokingly from her room. "I'll be right out."

"You better hurry, cause I didn't have any breakfast this morning!" He said chuckling.

"I'm sure you'd eat all my food when we're both old and wrinkly!" she said coming into the room and giving him a soft kiss.

"I wouldn't have wrinkles, I'll be distinguished, which is less than I can say about you Ms. Prune!" he said with a wide silly grin.

"I'll make you distinguished right now, c'mon!" Sydney joked, holding up her good fist, and throwing a soft punch to Vaughn's stomach.

"Alright, alright, you got me! Just sit down, ok? I don't want you hurting me… we're already shorthanded in the office." Vaughn said sitting her down in a chair.

"What about Tracy Maxwell? Isn't she field rated yet?" Sydney suddenly turned serious.

"Tracy Maxwell was let out of the hospital yesterday, she was in there for a mild case of pneumonia, besides she needs to get evaluated, psych I mean." Vaughn said, eating some on his fries.

"Vaughn?" Sydney looked at him questionably.

"Yah?" he answered absently.

"What's up with you Tracy?"

Vaughn was shocked and almost inhaled his fries into his lungs. He coughed and cleared his throat.

"What? Me and Tracy? Syd, what are you talking about? There isn't anything going on between and Tracy… I would never-"he was speaking too quickly for his own good and Sydney stopped him.

"I didn't mean it like that Vaughn! Relax! I just meant that you kinda have this… look, when someone mentions her." Sydney's voice was soothing, and it calmed Vaughn down.

"Look? What kinda look?" he asked puzzled.

"I don't know… just this look. And don't try denying it Michael. You know it's true."

_Oh no_, Vaughn thought, _she said Michael… not good._

"Its nothing Syd, I just don't… you know…" he fumbled with his words.

"Know her? Like her? What is it Michael?"

_Man, she really isn't giving up on this_, Vaughn told himself.

"I don't trust her, Syd. For some reason beyond my control, I just can't seem to bring myself to do it. I can't." he gave out a deep breath, relieved he told something about this.

"Its ok, Vaughn. It's understandable that its going to take you while to trust new people. But think about it this way: We work for Sloan; she couldn't be as bad as he is" Sydney tried to reason with Vaughn, using her own biggest fear.

Vaughn just smiled at Sydney and went on eating.

_I hope you're right Syd_, he thought, _I hope you're right_.

Maybe the next time he would talk to someone who knows Tracy, someone constantly talking to her in his office.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So what's the deal Jack?" Tracy spoke as soon as she stepped into his office.

"I want you to pack your bags." He said simply.

"Gees, Jack! I didn't think I was that horrible as a house guest!"

"No, it's not like that, Tracy" He almost fell for it, but then he looked up and saw Tracy smiling.

"I know, Jack. I'm just messing with you. I assume my apartment finally came through." Tracy said easily, smile still on her face.

"Yes, in fact it's just a couple of blocks away from mine." He said rigidly.

_So Jack-like,_ Tracy thought.

"That's great, I guess it wouldn't take me too long to pack, I'll be out of your apartment by tomorrow." Tracy replied cheerfully.

"Good… I don't mean it like…" she finally saw a human Jack.

"Its ok, Jack. I know what you mean. See ya." She said over her shoulder, exiting his office.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Hi Sydney, what's going on? Getting bored?" Nadia spoke to her sister over the telephone.

"Yah just about! What's happening around the office?" Sydney called everyday and asked the same question, which really made Nadia doubt that her sister might one day quit intelligence.

"The same thing yesterday, Syd…nothing. Why do you keep asking, anyway? Enjoy your time off!" Nadia answered warmly.

"Yah, I guess I should. Vaughn came over with lunch a while ago, though." Sydney brought up casually. But her sister knew there was more to it, so she went along.

"Really? That's nice of him." Nadia answered flatly, she waited for her sister to make her move.

"Yah, we had this weird conversation though." Sydney continued on with her casual tone.

"Weird how?" Nadia relentlessly played along.

"It was about the new girl, Tracy."

"What about Tracy?" Nadia asked again, hoping her sister will come out with it already.

"He's just concerned about her that's all, he doesn't completely…" Nadia interrupted her sister.

"He doesn't trust her, does he. Its not that big of a surprise." Nadia declared

"What do you mean?" Sydney sounded a bit hurt.

"I'm just saying that Vaughn isn't the easiest going guy I know." Nadia tried some damage control.

"Nadia, you're going out with Weiss! No wonder you think Vaughn is so uptight!" Sydney tried to make sense of Nadia in her own.

_I doubt it!_ Nadia thought, but _I'm not arguing any more_.

"Fine ok, that is probably why." Nadia ended the conversation.

"You know we should probably have a girls night, me and my room mate Francie use to do it all the time." Sydney turned the conversation around.

"Sure, but I bet it'd be boring with only the two of us Syd."

"Yah I guess." Sydney sounded discouraged.

Nadia looked around the office and realized she could see what everyone is doing from where she was sitting. That's when she saw Marshall and Tracy giggling.

"You know what Sydney? I think I might just have the cure for both of your problems." Nadia said and promptly hung up.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"She wanted to get married before she delivered the baby!" Tracy was enjoying one of the many stories Marshall is more than happy to share.

"Yah, so we couldn't find anyone to do it… right? I mean marry us or something. So I get Weiss to do it!" Marshall was so excited it was like he was reliving the events of that day.

"Weiss is a minister!" Tracy had this hilariously quizzical look on her face.

"Yah… the church of mammals! We got it online… instantly!"

Tracy and Marshall were just laughing their heads off, when Nadia walked in.

"Am I interrupting anything?" she had a wide grin on her face.

"Just a good story." Tracy said, taking deep breaths and to clam herself.

"Marshall has a lot of those." Nadia said, and stood awkwardly.

Marshall finally realized that an introduction is in order.

"Ah.. right sorry… introduction.. hmm… ok… Nadia… this is Tracy Maxwell." He said gesturing towards Tracy, who in turn stuck out her hand. "Tracy, this Nadia Santos."

Nadia took Tracy's hand and shook it kindly.

"Oh that's right… you're Sydney Bristow's sister. Nice to meet you." Tracy said, her voice mallow, with just a hint of awe. She heard what went around the office.

"Nice to meet you too. Who told I was Sydney's sister." Her tone clearly questioning. People like Nadia find it hard to step out of their work shoes.

Marshall discreetly stepped out for the two to have a private conversation.

"Jack had to keep me busy at the hospital. He told me about the people I'm going to be working with. Just to feel a little more comfortable when I get back." Tracy explained patiently, she understood the need to question everything in their line of work.

Nadia's sharp eyes softened, and a smile reappeared on her face; satisfied with Tracy's explanation.

"Look I know you don't know me or Sydney too well, but we're having a girls night thing, but there aren't too many of us around, and Sydney would really like to have you over. So what do you think?" Nadia sounded convincing enough.

"Yah sure, I don't see why not! Its really nice of you to ask. What time tonight?" Tracy asked in a friendly way.

"7 o'clock… and I hope you don't mind Chinese take-out."

"Chinese food run through my veins instead of blood."

Nadia smiled.

"Ok then see you tonight!" With that Nadia took her leave and went back to her office.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**TBC**

**A/N: OK you guys here are the first chapters, the other are coming soon enough since I'm on vacation. Please tell me what you think… your reviews is appreciated. **


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

"So she's coming here?" Sydney had just heard from her sister that Tracy Maxwell is coming over for dinner.

"Yes, and she thinks its your idea, so play along." Nadia said while rushing to clear out the couch Sydney has been sitting on all day. She was really turning into a couch potato, day-time television is apparently addictive.

"Ok, at least I get to meet the woman Vaughn is threatened by!" Sydney said putting her good arm up in the air. "I wouldn't call the last we saw each other a meeting. I just hope Vaughn apologized to her."

"About what?" Nadia asked. She hadn't heard everything about that night, considering she only heard about it from Vaughn.

"Oh Vaughn was really nice to this one, I can tell you that! Verbal and physical assault. Does she have a split lip?" Sydney asked.

Nadia just nodded. Tracy more than just a split lip, she was black and blue all over.

"Vaughn handy work… I don't know Nadia, he never was the excessive force kinda guy." Sydney said, discouraged.

"I'm sure he was jumpy because he thought that Tracy was the one that hurt you. The CIA told us nothing about an undercover agent within the facility." Nadia reasoned as best as she could.

"Maybe you're right. Last year was rough, really rough, on him."

_And me_, Sydney thought. But her thoughts were cut short by the doorbell.

"That must be her… I'll get it. And remember Syd, we're going have fun tonight. Stop moping already."

Sydney nodded and Nadia headed for the door. Still a bit concerned about her sister.

_Maybe Weiss was right_, she thought, _those two were too dramatic for their own good. _

When Nadia opened the door, she was warped by a warm breeze. At the door, stood Tracy, in a faded pair of blue jeans, a T-shirt with a sketch Mickey Mouse, and colorful sneakers. She had a Bud light Six pack in one hand, and car keys, with a cartoon character key ring, in the other. For the first time, since Nadia met her, Tracy looked young and fresh. It made her wonder how old Tracy really is.

Tracy looked at Nadia with a toothy smile, a little amused by Nadia's apparent puzzled expression.

"I'm supposed to be a college kid, remember? Gotta look the part."

Nadia managed to wipe the puzzled look from her face, and replace it with a genuine smile. Tracy just looked so normal, Nadia would have never guessed she was just back from a deep cover mission gone horribly wrong. But then again, this job is never really simple.

"Come on in, we're waiting on dinner. We'll have some time to talk." Nadia said giving way for Tracy to get in.

"That's cool, hope you guys like beer?" Tracy held up the six pack.

"I'm getting use to it." Nadia answered diplomatically.

"I haven't had one of these in ages, and Jack is too proper for beer!" Tracy said with a little laugh.

Nadia didn't know what Tracy was talking about then she remembered that Tracy was Jack's guest until her apartment came through.

"You guys have a great place!" Tracy said looking around the hall.

"Yah, it's Sydney's. I moved in with her after I joined APO."

Nadia said simply as she lead Tracy to the living room.

"Hey Tracy." Sydney said over from the CD rack. She slowly walked over to Tracy and offered her good hand. Tracy took it and shook it gently.

"Nice sling!" Tracy joked pointing to Sydney's arm.

Sydney just rolled her eyes, and chuckled.

"Cant wait to get out of it!"

"I Bet! Itches like hell, doesn't it? Personal experience, they don't let go deep cover unless you got five bullet holes!"

Tracy joked again.

Nadia realized that Tracy, just like Weiss, joked to lighten tense situations. In other words, this girl didn't like conflict.

An awkward moment settled in, and every one was just standing and looking around, at their feet, or to the clock.

"Wow… didn't realize I was so socially out of practice!" Tracy, again, was the one to break the silence.

"I guess we all are!" Sydney said, laughing which ended the awkwardness.

"Beer anyone?" Tracy said holding a can she just released from the six pack.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack was working late, he always works late. Vaughn waited for a chance to talk to him all day, and it looks like this might be his only chance. The office was empty, everyone had gone home, except for him and Jack.

He slowly walked over to Jack's office, and knocked on the door.

"Come in Mr. Vaughn, I was wondering when you were going to show up" Jack didn't even bother looking up from the report he was reading. He noticed Vaughn looking his way all day, it was obvious that he a matter to discuss with him.

"Jack I need to talk to you." Vaughn said in strong tone, obviously annoyed that Jack was preoccupied with the report he was reading.

Jack looked up at Vaughn and closed the folder the report.

"You have my undivided attention, Mr. Vaughn. Please take a seat." Jack said icily. If Vaughn wanted to be official about this, so be it.

Jack waited until Vaughn took his seat.

"Now… what was the matter you wanted to discuss with me?" Jack leaned back in his chair, showing Vaughn some authority.

"I wanted to discuss our new associate with you. You seem to know her best." Vaughn spoke affirmatively. He wondered why every time he spoke to Jack it turned into a miniature battle.

"I had known Ms. Maxwell's father. He was a partner of mine. Is there any particular reason you have some apprehensions about Ms. Maxwell, Mr. Vaughn?" Jack asked with ease, but his question caught Vaughn of-guard.

"Apprehensions? I never said I had 'apprehensions'…" Vaughn tried to regain himself.

"I see your uneasiness around her, the way you were looking at her at the briefing. Noticing these things is what I do for a living Mr. Vaughn, so don't insult me by denying them. Is there a particular reason you are bothered by Ms. Maxwell?" Jack spoke forcefully now, he wasn't about to waste time dancing around the subject.

"I just don't see why we should trust her this easily." Vaughn protested.

"I don't see why not. She is a CIA agent after all." Jack said flatly, looking bored.

"She was deep undercover for a long time, it can have a deep psychological effect, we should have never brought her here." Vaughn argued.

"Mr. Vaughn because of an error on our part, her cover was blown, she risked her life to save one of our agents, my daughter…" Jack spoke forcefully, he wondered why Vaughn was fighting against Tracy this badly.

"When we walked in there Jack, everyone was dead! Not a single person was alive. Am I the only one that sees something wrong with that?" Vaughn slammed his hand on the table.

"Mr. Vaughn, both my daughter and Ms. Maxwell have received extensive training, they were both capable of taking some guards out to protect themselves." Jack raised his voice, telling Vaughn to back off.

"Now Mr. Vaughn, I don't see what you're problem is with Ms. Maxwell, but what ever concerns you have they are completely unfounded. I have known Ms. Maxwell for a while now, before she joined the agency, and she is an outstanding agent and important asset to this organization. Now if you don't mind, I have more important things to attend to." With that Jack dismissed Vaughn and looked back to his report.

Vaughn just got up with out saying anything, and walked out of the room. He felt steam rising from his ears. He could not believe that now one in this office had concerns about Tracy. What he saw at the mission was not normal, and he would pursue his feeling to the ends of the earth.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"He irons his socks?" Nadia said mid-laughter.

"Yup! The guy is crazy about that iron I tell ya!" Tracy was just telling Sydney and Nadia about the hazards of living with Jack Bristow.

"Yah well… sounds a lot like my dad!" Sydney was really enjoying the evening with Tracy, although she felt a little stab of jealousy, feeling that she knew better Jack than his own daughter.

"And I went to see my new apartment today after work. I'm telling you, its something out of American Pie! I go from living with Jack to that…I might just get culture shock!"

The room was just filled with laughter, and both Sydney and Nadia were glad to have invited Tracy over. Sydney hadn't had this much fun since she was hanging around with Will and Francie.

Then a loud knock sounded at the door, who ever it was, they weren't happy.

"I'll get it… Tracy you stay here with Syd." Nadia said seriously.

"I don't need some to take care of me!" Sydney protested, hurt.

"But I do! C'mon Syd, cover me!" Tracy joked and hid behind the coach.

Nadia just shook her head and headed towards the door, when she got she reached for the gun she hid in the hallway closet. She looked out of the peep hole. It was Vaughn. She relaxed and put the gun back.

"Hey, Vaughn." She said as she opened the door.

He barely mumbled a gruff 'Hey'.

"Is Syd here, Nadia?" he seemed upset about something.

"Yah she's inside... is everything alright, Vaughn?"

Ever since Nadia came into the business she always expected the worst. She painfully learned that every time she is caught off-guard life kicks her in the stomach.

"Yah, I just had a little word with Jack before I came, everything is fine."

Nadia nodded and let Vaughn walk in front of her, but followed him closely. When they got closer to the living room, they could hear Sydney laughing out loud.

"Cost clear, Tracy." Sydney said taking breaths to stop her laughing "It's just Vaughn."

"You sure?" Tracy peeked from behind the coach. "He wasn't too friendly last time." She got up anyway.

"Its nice to see you again, Mr. Vaughn." Extending her hand. Vaughn just looked at it.

"Okay then! I guess your not the hand-shaking type!" Tracy withdrew her hand and shrugged.

"I want to make one thing clear… Ms. Maxwell. I don't trust you." Vaughn said his voice cold.

Nadia's mouth dropped and her eyes widened. Sydney was completely shocked but managed to speak up.

"Vaughn, I don't…" she said her voice still a little shocked.

"It's cool, Sydney. His kind of… well… doubts, are not so unusual in our business" Tracy just looked at Vaughn, her eyes soft.

"Anyhow, it's getting late, I should head back. Jack has me on a curfew, can you believe that!" Tracy used her usual type defense.

"You don't have to…" Sydney began to protest, even with Vaughn giving her a glance.

"Hey, no problem really. I wasn't kidding about the Jack thing anyway. I'll let myself out. Thanks you guys, see you soon." Tracy grabbed her keys from an ash tray she had put them in and headed for the door.

As soon as Sydney heard the door close, she was in Vaughn's face.

"Michael! What the hell is wrong with you? How could you come in like that and…" Sydney was really angry, she constantly tucked her hair behind her hair, and it kept getting loose.

"Sydney, I don't see how you could trust her. I don't! there is something about her, Syd, and you know it!" Vaughn protested.

"What is that thing Vaughn? We spent most of the evening with her and frankly she more normal than most normal people!" Nadia was the one to speak now.

"Look, all I know is when I walked into the warehouse, where she and Syd were in, all the guars were dead. That is not very normal!" Vaughn maintained his point.

"She had to what she did to get herself, and me, out of there alive!" Sydney was standing next to her sister now. Two woman against one man, it's a losing deal for Vaughn.

"Why an I the only that sees this whole thing doesn't look right? Why did the CIA declare her dead? She could've been an asset! Why is she constantly talking to your father? Maxwell is on to something that she is not telling us."

Vaughn was not gaining any points on either of Sydney or Nadia, and he was beginning to feel a little intimated by them.

"She knew my father as a child Vaughn, he took care of here on and off after her own parents were killed. They were both CIA. Her dad and mine were close, and she got to see a lot of my father. Maybe he wants to make sure that she is ok!" Sydney told him a more detailed version of what Jack had told him in the office.

"Tracy just lost her life in DC, friends, job, every thing Vaughn. Maybe Jack is just concerned about her, as a father figure." Nadia reasoned with Vaughn.

"I don't…" Vaughn began again.

"Vaughn, stop it I don't want to…" Sydney raised arm.

"Look, Syd, I…" They voices were getting louder and louder. They didn't even hear Weiss come in.

"Guy! Guys!" he said, but still went on noticed.

"Hey guys!" he whistled and suddenly all eyes were on him. "Hi! I've been standing here for 10 minutes!"

"I should get gowning" Vaughn said and headed for the door.

He'd prove it to the others sooner or later. That girl is not to be trusted.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A\N: ok you guys chapter numero qatro! (bad Spanish spelling, and knowledge!)…. Still no reviews…hmmm… I think I lost my credibility when I didn't finish my last fic or something! Please you guys! C'mon! just one or two stinkin reviews! It cant suck that bad right? And if it does… please tell me (in the least humiliating way possible) just a few words to save me from self loathing! **


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five**

**A/N: ok you guys here is Chapter five… hope you like it! Still waiting for those reviews.**

**MartinaCruz: Thanks! I really was beginning to think that TRAINED was much better:S Thanks again for the review… hope you like this chapter**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Couldn't sleep?" Marshall said to Tracy as soon as she came in the door.

Tracy looked at him, he said it with concerned eyes. She couldn't blame him. Her hair was messed up, her eyes bloodshot, not to mention the bags under them.

"Nope, not a wink. Those kids party all night! Don't they have tests or something! I hate to say this but I liked it at Jack's better!"

Tracy handed Marshall a cup of coffee and gobbled hers down in what should be a record time.

"Yah sometimes the cover story is a bigger pain than the missions." Marshall took a sip of his coffee.

"I just cant wait to be field rated. Maybe then the girl next door would get off my case about not having a boyfriend. I would tell her I was sleeping over at his house."

Tracy has been waiting to be let back on the field for three weeks now. Everything check out fine with her, her psych and physical exams went with such she thought she'd be back on the field effective immediately. Some how she knew that Jack had something with keeping her at a desk.

"Well we haven't been getting any action around here, even Sydney is growing restless. She hasn't been on a single mission since she was back either."

Marshall was right… there was absolutely nothing going on.

"But I have some good.. um.. well… news…not really good.. considering its kinda like a threat and… well. Its something" Marshall said to Tracy who instantly looked up.

Marshall swerved around with his chair and faced on the many computers he had, but this one he used to deciphering encrypted communications.

"Sergey's brother, not the dead one, the other one... he's been sending communications to his shady associates. I'm just about to find out what he is up to."

Marshall just went on typing, and Tracy held her breath. This could be extremely fortunate or extremely bad.

"Just…. about…. Done! Here we go! Just give it a couple of seconds and…"

the weird characters began to turn into Russian writing, sentence by sentence, it all become clear to Tracy.

"Holly G-d!" she said more shocked than afraid.

"What? What is it? Wait let me load my translation program…" Marshall began to scramble for a CD.

"No need… I know what he wants. Could you print this out?" Tracy asked.

Marshall nodded and pressed a few keys. As soon as that paper was free from the printer Tracy was on her way to Jack's office.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Jack we need to talk!" Tracy burst through the Jack's office.

"What is it Tracy?" He looked up from yet another report he was reading.

"Marshall just got this…. Sergey's brother… he's up to something." Tracy was out of breath and held up a piece of paper.

"I thought his brother is dead"

"Boris.. Boris Vladimir, their youngest brother is dead. He was supposed to be my father. But there's another one, a shady character, Philip… his name is Philip Vladimir. I barely heard of him when I was undercover, this guy was never around." Tracy just collapsed in her seat.

"Are you sure of this? Why haven't we been told about this?" Jack was dead serious now, work mode, full on.

"With out his brothers… he was nothing but… their own personal bank. He paid off the people that needed to be paid off, he gave money for guns, explosives, the works."

"So the CIA didn't view him as a threat?" Jack questioned.

"With both of his brothers terminated, he's nothing but a rich guy. He never had the connections. Its like he doesn't exist. I'm betting this guy has a ton of money and nothing to do with, now that his brothers don't run their 'operations'" Tracy thought out loud. She passed the paper over to Jack.

"He's looking for me, Jack. Probably so I can find something to do with his money." Tracy continued.

"Or he's looking to kill you!" Jack said forcefully. "You can never know what this guy knows."

"Jack, it's a risk I have to take…" Tracy protested.

"To what ends Tracy! You have nothing to gain!" Jack shot back.

"If this guy doesn't find me, he'll find someone else to take care of business." Tracy answered smoothly.

"This isn't about 'business' and we both know it Tracy." Jack looked at her with a cold stare.

"Then I am forced to take this to Sloane. I wanted you to be the one to take this to him… but you leave me no choice. I will not let you hold me down." Tracy grabbed the paper from Jack's desk and walked out.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You haven't missed much Dixon…. And I trust having sometime with your children." Sloan was at his, Dixon sitting across from here.

"I have enjoyed my time off. Now if there's nothing else…" Dixon said uneasily, he still didn't like working for Sloan again, but if it meant it kept the man from hurting people… so be it.

"Mr. Sloan, I need to speak to you." Tracy burst into Sloan's office, and his disapproving look greeted her. "I apologize Mr. Sloan… I didn't realize you were busy."

"It's alright." Dixon voice, was kind to the new agent. He wondered who she was. "We're done here."

"Dixon wait a minute. I'm not sure you have met our newest addition." Sloan said coolly. "Tracy come back here." He said to Tracy already half way out the door.

Tracy silently walked back in and stood near the door, the paper still hanging limply in her hand.

"Dixon, this Tracy Maxwell, she's the agent that helped us out in France."

Dixon looked a little surprised, but soon collected himself.

"Nice to meet you." He offered his hand and Tracy shook it.

"Tracy, this is Marcus Dixon… one of the best operatives I have known." Continued Sloan.

"Of course, Mr. Dixon was Director in the CIA. It's a pleasure, sir." Tracy managed to sound a little awed. She had always heard about the division Dixon ran… the best of the best.

"The pleasure is all mine, now if you excuse me, I have some work to catch up with." He said with a warm smile directed at Tracy. Soon he was out of the office and Tracy was left alone with Sloan.

"Now Ms Maxwell, what is so urgent?" Sloan's voice was icy.

"Marshall intercepted a communication recently made by Boris Vladimir." She passed him the paper in her hand.

"Boris Vladimir? Sergey's older brother? This should prove interesting" Sloan slipped on his reading glasses and skimmed through the paper.

Tracy stood quietly as Sloan continued to read, his expression unchanged.

"I was right this is interesting. Do you think your cover has been blown? Does he know that you're, were, CIA?" Sloan asked looking Tracy in the eyes.

His eyes were penetrating, and with the glasses, he just looked more intimidating, more intense. Tracy, found it hard to locate her voice.

"No.. No, sir. I don't believe he does." She tried to sound unfazed by his intimidation.

"You don't 'believe' Ms. Maxwell? I'm going to need something more… reassuring than that." Sloan said coolly.

"I'm sure, sir. Sergey didn't even know who I worked for until minutes before his death. None of his guard survived either. There was no one to tell the tale, so to speak." Tracy said with precision.

"Very well Ms. Maxwell," Sloan said, now with a little smile on his face. "Do you think you're ready to go back to the field?"

"I don't think so, sir." Tracy shot back. "I know so."

"Give me sometime with this intel. And tell Marshall to look for anything useful. I'll tell you when the mission plan is ready. You can go." Sloan dismissed Tracy with out another glance.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"It's good to see you up and about, Sydney." Dixon broke from the hug he and Sydney were sharing.

"Believe me, Dixon… its real good to be up an about again. I don't like being homebound." Sydney said with a big smile. "By the way thank you for the flowers, balloons, and cards! There were great."

"The kids really wanted to send you… everything!" Dixon smiled back. "They really like you Syd."

"Hey! Its Dixon!" It was Weiss now. "What's up man? how was Jamaica?"

"It was really nice, I enjoyed it. The kids loved it too."

"I was thinking of going there… in a none mission kinda way. What do you think Nadia?" Weiss put his arm around Nadia, who had just joined them

Nadia rolled her eyes and ignored Weiss question.

"Hello, Dixon, its good to see you again." She said with a wide toothy smile.

"It's good to see all of you." He smiled back.

Nadia and Weiss excused themselves and went back to work. Which left Sydney and Dixon alone.

"So I met Tracy Maxwell. She seems nice." He said nodding to himself.

"Tracy is a sweetheart. Poor thing has to be someone else on the outside, the CIA declared her dead when they heard the mission went south." Sydney felt bad about Tracy's cover.

She always thought that it was bad having to hide what you did for a living from your friends. Tracy couldn't even tell her friends her real name.

"Well no one said the job is going to be easy." Dixon shrugged.

"But no one said it's going to be like this either." Sydney said in a sad little voice.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Tracy!" Jack called Tracy across the hall.

Tracy stopped in her tracks and waited for him to approach her.

"What is it Jack?" her voice was icy.

"Tracy, you don't want to do this." Jack said simply.

"I do, Jack. I want to finish what I started." Tracy glared at him.

"Tracy, you cant do this. It'll break you. You cant go back, we both know what's going to happen." Jack came close to pleading as he could, but it sounded like he was ordering Tracy around.

"It's my job, Jack." She said simply, then turned to walk away.

"Revenge isn't." he said shortly.

Tracy turned around and looked Jack in the eyes, giving him a cold look.

"This isn't about revenge."

"We both know that this is about Chris Richards, Tracy. So come off it!" Jack watched Tracy's eyes turn from cold to shocked to hurt.

"How dare you? How can you accuse me…" She said bitterly.

"You don't think I don't know what's like to watch one of my friends die? It comes with the job!" Jack cut her off.

"He died to keep my cover intact, it was my fault! And when it comes to the job… I didn't have much choice did I?" She looked at him coldly, and walked away.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Sloan we need to talk." Jack showed up at Sloan's office right after his little argument with Tracy.

"Of course." Sloan sat calmly.

"I don't want you to send Maxwell out on the field, not on the mission she came to you with." Jack was short and to the point.

"Is there a specific reason you don't want her on point this mission?" Sloan gave Jack a curious look.

"There are personal conflicts that would potentially hinder Maxwell from performing her job." Jack said shortly. Sloan wasn't impressed.

"I need to know what these conflicts are to make a decision, Jack. What variables are we looking at."

"Sergey killed Maxwell's handler and mentor, Chris Richards. I think that her attempts of retaliation would blind her from the main objectives." Jack said smoothly.

"They will not in this particular mission. Langley wants Vladimir 'disposed' of." Sloan said it with such calm and ease Jack wanted the punch him. This guy was talking about Tracy killing someone.

"Langley wants us to make a hit?"

"Yes, that is what they told me. They also told me that they want it to be clean and quiet. Not something too flashy like a rigged car or a sniper in a market place. They want someone to go into his home, eliminate him quietly and walk out. We're black ops, Jack, we do the dirty work." Sloan sipped some of the water he had in a cup in front of him.

"And what makes you think Maxwell will accept the mission?" Jack asked defiantly.

"I'm not assuming anything, but I believe she will do it. After all, what could have hindered her from doing her job may her finish it." Sloan gave Jack a devilish smile. Jack just got up and headed towards the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: so what do you think… express yourself… write me a review! Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter Six**

**A/N: Ok… I'm going to be updating frequently.. I have a trip coming up and I don't want to have any unfinished business… so heads up.**

**And now to a little thank-you:**

**Lunours: Thank _y_ou sweetie! Wow you're so nice… I'll tell you some romantic elements will be coming up for Maxwell, not with Jack though (sorry, please don't stop reading)… my reason will be come more clear later on… the next couple of chapters will be revealing! Keep reading… I hope I wouldn't disappoint!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Yes?"

"It's dry this year…do you think we'll see some rain?"

"I see some clouds coming from the east."

"Hello, old friend."

"Hello, Jack. I'm assuming this not a social call."

"It's time for me to call in an old favor."

"Name it."

"I want the CIA to change the Vladimir mission objective."

"Jack, its important that Vladimir is eliminated."

"Tell the CIA to back off, and I will personally take care of Vladimir"

"Very well, Jack, I hope this is worth it."

"It is… make the call I want the objective changed with in the hour."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Are you serious… this guy is looking for you?" Marshall had waited for Tracy to come back, then asked her what was in the paper.

"Yah, I told Sloan about it, he said a follow up missionwould bein order right now." Tracy sat on an inflatable coach, fiddling with a pen. She was nervous, she didn't like confrontations with Jack.

"You think you'll be point on this one? I mean it is kinda of your mission with the last one being your gig." Marshall spook quickly, obviously excited to have some action going on.

"I hope so, if Jack doesn't get in the way again."

Tracy was getting angry, her heart raced, her blood pressure soared, and in an environment where she couldn't do anything about it, it made her sick.

"You ok, Trace?" Marshall looked at her with concerned eyes. "You don't look so good… I mean not good-pretty... good-healthy… youdon't feel too good?"

Tracy shook her head, she didn't feel too good. She had to blow out some steam.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Vaughn watched that Maxwell woman immerge from the women's changing room at the APO gym. For some reason, her tensed up every time he say her, he just felt like punching her.

"Mr. Vaughn! What a pleasant surprise!" she said sarcastically. Tracy stopped trying to get on that man's good side some time ago, obviously he has issues.

Vaughn gave her a cold stare, he really didn't like her. He watched her as she started to beat the crap out of a near-by boxing bag. She was obviously not a happy camper today.

"You just love to show off don't you, Maxwell?" Vaughn looked at her mockingly. Tracy stopped and looked at Vaughn.

"What's up with you, huh? Did I offend you in anyway? I have done nothing to deserve this out of you." Tracy walked towards him as she spoke and pointed her gloved hand at him accusingly.

"I told you once Maxwell, I'll tell you again, I.. do… not… trust.. you!" Vaughn sounded very adolescent.

"Oh that's really mature!" Tracy scoffed.

"You, Maxwell, are a poor excuse for an agent… I am ashamed to work by your side!" Vaughn said angrily.

"Alright, _Michael_, its just you and me… how about a little game of kick-boxing?" Tracy gave him a cold glanced.

"What? I'm not gonna hit you, no w-" Vaughn was in the middle of protesting when Tracy jabbed him in the side. "What the hell!"

"C'mon pretty boy.. show me what you got!" Tracy taunted.

"I'm not go to fight-" Another jab to the stomach now, Vaughn bent over but soon recovered. "Is that what you got? C'mon, I'm gonna show you how a real fight is" Vaughn headed towards the boxing ring in the center of the gym.

Both Tracy and put on protective head gear, and Vaughn slipped on boxing gloves. They both headed to the center of the ring to discuss the rules.

"Ok… nothing below the belt…" Vaughn began.

"I thought this was going to be 'real' fight." Tracy mocked. "Everything goes… no aiming for permanent damage, of course."

"Fine with me!"

They slammed their gloves and headed towards their corners.

Tracy watched Vaughn carefully, he would be fighting in the heat of the moment, he would be angry and aggressive, it would be easy to take him down, first she had to see his style, then she would a little fun with it.

Vaughn moved away from his corner triggering the beginning of the fight. Tracy moved towards him and blocked some of his punches, she even took one, just to get a feel for his type.

She had underestimated Michael Vaughn, he didn't loose himself in the anger, he was precise and powerful. A true agent. But he hasn't seen what she could do.

Tracy watched him slowly until she saw an opening and she took it, she gave him aright hook in the face. His head was thrown back, and Tracy saw a shadow of a surprised look. This guy has underestimated her, but she wouldn't let her self-control slip.

He took another punch to the stomach, and then returned a few of his, catching Tracy a couple of times in the stomach. Tracy hit back to his chest, and knocked his feet from under him. He went down like a rock.

Vaughn wasted no time and recovered himself in a heartbeat, hitting Tracy a couple of times in the face. He saw a look of anger cross Tracy's face for a second.

Tracy waited patiently until Vaughn let his guard down just long enough for her to hit him in the face again. She caught him in the side of the mouth, and his lip split on impact.

"What was that?" he demanded, leaning on the ropes, gingerly touching his lip.

"That was for the split lip in France, you never did apologize for it!" she was looking at him defiantly, and hopping around. "C'mon pretty boy!"

Vaughn charged and caught her in the stomach a couple of times, she let her hands, that were protecting her face,down and Vaughn took the chance for a left hook on the nose. Blood exploded, but nothing cracked.

Tracy leaned back on the ropes to recover her self. She was real angry now, and it was becoming hard to hold herself back. She stood again and went back. This time she got in a few hits but Vaughn was fast in returning them.

"Hey!" a voice stopped the two in their tracks, someone was angry.

"What hell are you guys doing!" It was Sydney. Besides he stood a dumbfounded Nadia, just staring at the Tracy and Vaughn. Their faces were bloody and they were panting.

"Training" Tracy managed to day, between deep breaths. "I guess we got a little carried away, didn't we _Michael_?"

"Yah, yah. Just a little carried away that's all" Vaughn said, still panting.

"What did you guys do to each other?" Nadia talked now horrified at the blood dripping from their chins.

"This?" Tracy touched her nose, and winced in pain. "Nothing a little ice cant fix. I'm gonna go now, good game."

Tracy got out ofthe ring slowly and headed for the changing room, a little shower is defiantly in order. She had to start to think of way to explain the nose to her neighbor.

"What was that about Vaughn?" Nadia asked her arms crossed at the chest.

"Do you really expect us to believe that you and Tracy were 'training'?" Sydney spoke up.

"Yes, it is the truth. And I'm not having this conversation right now, you guys are double teaming me!" Vaughn pointed at them his boxing glove still on.

"Double teaming you?" Sydney gave a little laugh "What's that suppose to mean?"

"Never mind, I gotta hit the shower" Vaughn headed towards the shower.

"Vaughn.." Vaughn turned back to face her. "Sloan called a meeting in an hour." Sydney told him.

Vaughn nodded and continued down his way. What was he gonna tell Weiss about his split lip.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Marshall has intercepted intel this morning from Philip Vladimir, Sergey's eldest brother, he is looking for his niece Natasha Vladimir. As you know, Maxwell has been posing as his niece on a deep cover mission for about a year. The CIA wanted us to dispose of Vladimir, but I got a call just a half hour ago, informing me that this mission will not be a hit, but an information gathering mission." Sloan explained in his calm, cool voice to the APO team seated around a conference table.

"The communication came from the south of France, and one of our contacts says the Philip Vladimir left his lavish home in Russia a week ago," Jack spoke now. "So it is safe to assume that he has gone to the south of France to look for his niece personally. We will make contact with Vladimir, telling him that Tracy has been hiding in a little apartment ever since the incident."

"So I'll be going back in? what exactly am I gonna do?" Tracy asked, he nose had a little white medical tape to prevent it from breaking, it was tender.

"You will go in and find out what Vladimir wants to do with his money, now that his brothers are dead." Sloan explained. "We expect that he wants to make you the new caretaker of his, and reestablish his brothers connections."

"I understand." Tracy said in a professional matter.

"Meanwhile, we will giving you an emergency tracker, just in case your cover is compromised." Jack said. "If your in trouble we should be able to reach you in reasonable time."

Tracy nodded, her heart raced she was excited to be in the game. But for some reason she felt a sense of uneasiness, a sense of foreboding.

"What about the rest of us?" Sydney asked, also eager to get back on the field.

"Sydney, you, Vaughn, and Dixon will be on surveillance. Nadia, and Weiss, you'll be under cover on the field, just in case something happens when Vladimir's guys pick Maxwell up, we are still not a 100 sure her cover is intact. Marshall will be monitoring the situation from base." Sloan assigned everyone a job.

"The plane to France will be leaving tomorrow at 0500 hours, Marshall will make the communication tonight, and will establish a meet the day after, giving you some time to prep." Jack explained.

"Good luck everybody, dismissed." Sloan concluded. Everybody got up from their seats, and left the room.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So just a little tap on this little button here should activate it, ok?" Marshall sat in the Tech room with Tracy, he was showing her the emergency tracker.

Tracy nodded and smiled at Marshall, he seemed a bit different.

"What's wrong Marshall? Do don't seem like yourself?" Tracy asked him with a concerned smile.

"Yah… its nothing… it's just… never mind!" he put his hands up in surrender.

"C'mon man? what buggin you?" Tracy insisted.

"I'm just worried… apprehended… about this mission… I'm scared.. for you… I'm afraid for you… I have this weird feeling… its not a good feeling.. its just…" Marshall was babbling, Tracy realized a long time he babbled when he was nervous.

"Hey Marshall, its ok… I've been in worse situations, don't worry about it" Tracy assured him.

"It's just that you're… you're on you own in there… and its only this thing with you.." Marshall voiced more concerns.

"I work better alone Marshall, don't worry about me." Tracy gave him a grin. "You wont get rid of me this easily!"

Just then Marshall's cell phone rang, he looked at the flashing screen.

"It's Carrie…" He flipped his phone open. "Hey Carrie!"

Tracy walked out of the room to give Marshall some privacy. She saw Jack, and headed in his direction.

"Why do I have a feeling you changed the objective of the mission, Jack?" she said standing behind him.

"Were you going to take the mission if it was a hit?" He asked absently, reading through something.

"You know I wouldn't have. I wanted to have the choice, though." Tracy lowered the paper so that Jack would look at her.

"You wouldn't have had a choice, Tracy. Not in black ops." Jack said seriously "I didn't want to put you in that position."

Tracy nodded, she understood.

"I want you to be careful tomorrow Tracy, there is rarely any room for error." Jack continued in his concerned tone.

"Don't worry, Jack. I'll be careful, I have been taught well." Tracy walked away from Jack.

He watched her head back to the office, and wished he could keep her here, keep her safe. But she wouldn't have it, she will not be held back by him, by anyone, one more thing he regretted she learned from him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Nadia and Syd think you have completely lost your mind you know that?" Weiss was sitting on Vaughn's desk, he had just come back from a little talk with Nadia and Sydney. "I still cant believe you picked a fight with Tracy! That girl is a sweetheart!"

"She's not to me!" Vaughn protested.

"Well that's because you treat her like crap man!" Weiss shot back.

"I don't trust h-" Vaughn began again when Weiss interrupted.

"You know man it's getting really old! 'Ooh… I don't trust Tracy' " Weiss imitated Vaughn with a whinny voice. "Come off it already! Its getting hard to defend you… sometimes I'm not sure I want to!"

"Whatever man, tomorrow Maxwell will go on the field then we'll see what she's made off." Vaughn said. "and I don't sound like that!"

"Yes you do!" Weiss said on his way out the door.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: And thus another chapter ends…. Any good? How about you review and tell me… please! **


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**A/N: here it is… Chapter seven! A little fast paced, and contains some offensive language… but people aren't really nice when they're angry. And remember the golden rule! REVIEW!**

**Lunours: Thanks for reviewing again… I'm really happy you like it… I really enjoying reading your reviews… my head is growing too big though! Thank you very much.. hope you like this chapter… you'd be a little surprised. But I think you'll enjoy it… review and tell me what you think.**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The first morning rays found Tracy at the air strip, sipping hot coffee and trying to calm her weary heart. Today she realized that she is never going back to DC, she was dead to those people. It was time to close her last door back to that world.

The ring was in her hand, held between her index finger and thumb, she never looked at it like today, not even on the day he gave it to her. It was beautiful, painstakingly carved with beautiful symbols. He told her that they are symbols of love from every culture that ever existed. He said that his heart came with this ring; now it was time to give both of them back.

She watched her new associates gather, they talked and joked, like they were on their way to a vacation, she was like that. With him she was like that.

Sydney looked away from her friends, and her eyes met Tracy's. Tracy smiled and gave a little wave, Sydney excused herself and walked towards her.

"Nervous?" was the only thing that she asked when she reached Tracy.

"In more ways than one." Tracy answered simply, and looked away, obviously something was on her mind. "Look Sydney, I know I haven't known you for long, but I want a favor."

"Sure, what is it?" Sydney answered, more than a little curious of what Tracy had to asked.

"I want you to give this" She held a golden ring with carvings, "To this guy." She gave Sydney a little piece of paper with a name on it. "He lives in DC"

Sydney just looked at the ring, somewhat surprised that Tracy would trust her with something so personal like this. She wondered about the ring, what did it symbolize.

"Don't worry, Syd. It's just _a_ ring, not _the_ ring." Tracy said, offering some explanation.

"Who is this guy?" Sydney asked hoping to get more insight into Tracy's past.

"He's a guy that deserves to move on." Tracy said quietly and walked away.

Sydney just stood there looking at the ring and the piece of paper. She knows from personal experience that this couldn't be easy for Tracy. Sydney tucked the ring and piece of paper safely in her pocket and walked back to her friends, they were going to board the plane anytime now.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The plane ride was uneventful, Tracy and Vaughn were seated as far away from each other as possible, the mission stats were gone over one last time and all went well.

Soon the team found themselves in the small apartment Natasha Vladimir was supposed to be staying in. They got to business quickly, installing wireless hidden camera to cover every inch on the apartment. The meet was going to happen in 2 hours.

Sydney, Dixon, and Vaughn went back to yet another black surveillance van, parked across the street from the small apartment building. Nadia and Weiss were on the field. Weiss was suppose to fixing telephone lines, which gave him a clear bird's-eye view of the apartment. Nadia was reading a book and enjoying the sun on a nearby bench.

Tracy was in the apartment drinking some sodas and watching TV. The meet was half an hour away.

"Nothing yet?" Dixon asked, he was handling communications with Base ops.

"No, nothing major, but I think they sent a scout to check the situation out." Sydney pointed at a monitor that showed a view of the hall way outside the apartment.

A young man was walking around, he had jet black hair and good build, he kept pacing the hallway, like he was looking for something. Sydney didn't give the man much mind, he didn't seem to be armed or anything.

"Base ops, everything is going as planned." Dixon said into his comm.

"Evergreen, how does it look from there?" Vaughn said into his comm.

"Everything is clear, shotgun." Nadia's voice answered.

That's when Sydney saw a black luxury car approaching.

"Heads up everybody, I think company has just arrived." Sydney said into her headset.

The black car stopped in front of the apartment building and two men in expensive suits walked out.

"These guys don't seem to care about blending in." Sydney thought out loud.

The man headed briskly into the building and Sydney continued to follow their movement. They knocked on Tracy's door.

"It's time to Tango." Tracy whispered to herself, and headed for the door.

It was a man with chiseled features and an expensive suit, he didn't look like any of the men she saw around Sergey's place, neither did the man that stood next to him.

"Natasha, it's time to go." He said in a gruff Russian voice.

"So Uncle Philip finally sent someone for me." Tracy switched to the lippy Natasha façade she managed to create.

"He wants you to be with him as soon as possible." He said coldly.

"Of course, let me get my purse." Tracy got it from the hanger in the foyer and headed out of the door with the two men.

"We're going to the top of the building, a helicopter should be here to pick us up anytime soon." Said the expensive suit with his gruff voice.

"Why not a car?" Tracy was getting really suspicious now, this is not the plan.

"It's faster."

Tracy looked into a hidden camera in the hall way and ran her hand through her hair, something was very wrong here. She could feel it in her bones. Good thing she gave Sydney the ring.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Vaughn… something is wrong." Sydney was looking at the monitor when she saw Tracy gave a signal they had both agreed on the plane.

That's when they heard the helicopter, it landed on the roof.

"That wasn't part of the plan, was it?" It was Weiss, asking over comms. It wasn't.

"Phoenix, phoenix do you copy?" Marshall's rushed voice came on the headset "One of my sources came through…Philip Vladimir is dead.. he's dead! Gamer is out in the open!"

"All units we have a code red." Sydney watched in horror while the elevator camera's monitor showed Tracy was struggled while one man held her and the other injected her with something. Soon the struggling stopped and Tracy slumped in the man's arms. "Gamer has been compromised, most probably a kidnap situation. All units report to the roof. ASAP."

Sydney through the head set off and found herself running towards the building at top speed. Behind her Vaughn and Dixon were following closely. Nadia was already in the building.

Sydney thanked G-d when she found the other elevator's door open, she and Nadia rushed in a went to the top floor.

"What the happened!" Nadia asked panting.

"We've been played. Marshall said Vladimir is dead." Sydney rushed her words and willed the elevator to move faster. "Dammit! Move!"

The elevator door finally opened and Sydney dashed up the stairs to the roof. She could see the two men loading Tracy into the helicopter. One of them spotted her and began to shoot at her. Nadia and Sydney took cover and shot back.

The man jumped in the helicopter and it began to take off. He kept shooting, and Sydney and Nadia kept shooting back. Soon the helicopter was high in the air, and the man stopped shooting. Sydney came out from where she was taking cover and continued to shoot until her gun clicked emptily.

"They're gone Syd." Nadia reached for her sister's arm.

"SHIT!" Sydney shouted and slammed her gun to the floor then walked away, leaving Nadia looking at the sky, helplessly watching the helicopter flying away.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"How could this happen!" Sydney was still furious at the failure of the mission. "I thought we had intel! How could Philip Vladimir be dead!"

The team all sat in the van, now. Trying to make sense of what had just happened.

"It appears that Marshall's preliminary intel was right, Vladimir did leave his home in Russia, however, his car was involved in an accident, and was pulled out of the river in crashed into today, Vladimir's dead body was found inside the car, he never had a chance to get out." Sloan was on speaker phone explaining what happened.

"What about the tracker Tracy has, cant we see where she is?" Nadia asked.

"The Tracker hasn't been turned on, so it is completely useless at the moment." Sloan answered. "Right now, we have no idea where Maxwell is or how she is. But we will working with the assumption that she is alive, her abductors wouldn't take the effort to drug and move her if they wanted her dead."

"So what do we do now?" Weiss asked.

"Right now, head to the safe house and have a goodnight sleep, I don't want you to leave France just yet. Marshall should have something for you tomorrow… he's been working on finding some intel." Sloan continued.

Vaughn was vaguely listening, he was more interested in the surveillance screens.

"So we just sit around and do nothing now!" Sydney was going to relax anytime soon.

"I'm afraid that's all you're going to be able to do, for now." Was Sloan's reply. "I'll contact you with more information when we receive it." And with that he was gone.

"Impossible!" Sydney complained.

Vaughn wasn't listening at all now, there is something, or rather someone, that has caught his attention. He watched intently and his doubts were relinquished.

"It cant be.." he whispered to himself. "Syd, I think you need to see this."

Sydney got more serious and collected herself.

"What is it?" She looked at the screens.

"Looks like someone is revisiting the scene of the crime." Vaughn said.

It was the man that Sydney saw before, the scout. What was he doing here now? Was something left behind. Before she could give it another thought, Sydney was out of the van and heading towards the building. Weiss went along with her.

As the elevator reached the level the man was in Sydney took her gun out of the holster and slipped the safety off. Weiss and her, walked the hallway slowly and quietly, good thing this level was deserted.

Next thing they knew a man jumped Weiss and they started to fight. Sydney tried to shoot but she wasn't sure that she would hit the attacker and not Weiss. She put her gun back in the holster and stepped into the fight.

The man was powerful, and angry. He fought like a rabid dog and both Weiss and Sydney had a hard time bringing him down. Finally he fell to the floor, and Sydney pulled out and aimed it at him.

"C'mon! give me a reason to waste your pathetic life right here." Sydney said angrily.

The man just raised his hands in surrender, and Weiss frisked him.

"He's clean."

"Don't try anything or I'll put a slug in you faster than you can say Bang." Sydney threatened. The man just nodded.

"Why are you here?" she asked him he gun still trained on him.

The man said nothing, he just looked at her with a blind stare.

"Who sent you?" Sydney asked again but got the same response.

She just looked at him, and then suddenly hit him on the head with the butt of the gun.

"Whoa! Syd! What's that for!" Weiss said as he say the man fall to the floor unconscious.

"We're taking him to the safe house, he'll talk there." Sydney answered harshly. "C'mon lets get him the van."

Weiss and Sydney carried the van where they tied him up and blindfolded him, while Dixon drove them to the safe house.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack sat in his office, he had just heard about France, Tracy was gone.

Jack had a nagging feeling of guilt, although he thought he did all he could to keep Tracy safe, he still thought that something else could have been done.

The office was empty now, only he and Marshall remain. Marshall had taken it hard too. He and Tracy have managed to form a strong friendship, and he felt completely lost when he heard the news.

Jack tried to pick up a report and keep himself busy, to get his mind off of things, he just couldn't concentrate. He finally decided to go out for some dinner and a drink, or just a whole lot of drinks.

As soon as he sat in his car, his cell phone rang. He thought it might be some news.

"Bristow." He said in his usual cold way.

"Long time, Bristow" Jack recognized that voice, but it couldn't be.

"Who is this?" he said forcefully.

"You should know, Jack! You took a lot of things from me, tonight I'm taking them back." The was unmistakably his, it was still cruel in some way.

"I thought were dead Turner, but you were always full of surprises." Jack said in strong tone, he wasn't about to be intimidated.

"Surprised you today, didn't I Jack? You never saw it coming. You're losing your touch." The voice mocked.

"That was you? Why?" Jack was surprised but he didn't let it slip into his voice.

"Why? Are you asking me why Jack? I'm just taking back what's mine. I'm completing what I started… you on the other hand… you just lost sight of what is bigger." Then there was nothing but a dial tone.

Jack slammed the steering wheel. One of his bigger nightmares came back to life has come back to life, and now he has Tracy.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: So what did you think? Too many unanswered questions? Surprising? I'm just trying to keep it entertaining…. Click that 'review' button and tell me what you think… please.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**A/N: I'm really happy that the last chapter has been taken so well! Thank you for the support you guys! Ok I promised very frequent updates… so here it is chapter 8… enjoy. Just a little warning.. another person is angry just pardon their english!**

**Lunours: Again… thank you very much! I never had someone like my writing this much! You are such a sweetheart… Tell me what you think about this chapter.. I'll be waiting for it! Again, thanks. Oh and don't worry, of course Jack will come out on top.. big fan right here!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"I cant sit here all day… I have all the time in the world. You're gonna tell me everything you know about who took Natasha Vladimir." Sydney stood in front of the scout, he was bound and cuffed to a chair.

Sydney wonder why this man was so loyal to his employer, she had never seen anyone like him. He wouldn't even say a single word, not a breath. His eyes were determined, but deep in side them she could see a certain sadness, a grief. She had seen no one like him.

He still said nothing, he just looked at Sydney defiantly.

"Fine then have it your way, we'll see what a couple of days with no food will do to you." She walked out with a single word.

When she closed the door, she took a deep breath, and leaned back on it. She had with the man all night and he had said absolutely nothing. She rubbed her eyes and rested them, she was becoming extremely tired, but somehow sleep escaped her.

"Sydney?" it was Nadia's voice so Sydney opened her eyes slowly. "Are you ok?"

"Yah I'm fine," Sydney assured her sister and stood straight. "Just a little tired, that guy is wearing me out."

"You've been in there all night. You need to get some sleep, I'll talk to him if you want" Nadia offered.

"He's not talking anyway, not now at least…" Sydney was interrupted by the phone ringing. "Yah?"

"Hey Syd," It was Marshall, he too sounded tired and worn out. "It's me." He said simply.

"Please tell me you have something for us" Sydney pleaded.

"Well.. yah.. I kinda do… remember that video feed you sent me… of the scout?" Marshall asked.

"Yes, of course I remember. Did you find anything? Anything useful?" Sydney asked.

"I ran his face through the face recognition data base.." Marshall continued.

"And?" Sydney asked anxiously.

"And…. He's CIA, Syd."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes… pretty sure." He assured. "I have a name."

"Well?" Sydney rushed.

"His name is Edward Richards"

"Oh my G-d!" Sydney was shocked. It just simply couldn't be, what would _he_ be doing there? than it all made sense, looking for her.

"Syd? You still there?" Marshall's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She quickly regained her self.

"Yah, I'm here… thanks Marshall you just made my life a little bit easier." She hung up.

"What is it?" Sydney had almost forgotten that Nadia was with here until she asked.

"This guy." She gestured towards the door. "is CIA."

"CIA?" Nadia was a little held aback.

"Yah, and there's more to it."

Nadia just waited for her sister to continue explaining.

"Remember at the air strip when I was talking to Tracy?" Nadia nodded. "Well she gave me this" Sydney pulled out the beautiful ring and showed it to Nadia.

"This is beautiful, but I don't see…" Nadia was still a little more than confused.

"She also gave me this.." she pulled out a paper. "With a name on it, she told me that she wanted this man to have this ring back… that he deserved to move on."

Nadia took the little piece of paper from Sydney and read the name on it out loud.

"Edward Richards…. You mean this guy… he's this Richards person?" Nadia asked more baffled now.

"Looks like Eddie over here was looking for Tracy, he's not working for who ever took her." Sydney voiced her conclusion.

"C'mon, we have to tell the others" Nadia headed to the living room, which had become a make-shift command center.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The headache was the first thing that woke her up, it was so intense, it made her want to pry her skull of. There was a deep throbbing behind her eyes, and it made it even harder for Tracy to open them.

"Agh" she groaned in pain when she tried to move.

_What the hell have I been drinking_, Tracy thought, _why_ _had I been drinking anyway!_

She struggled to remember, and her memory fought back for a while. Slowly but surely images, sounds, and feeling began to flood back to her.

She was at the apartment , waiting to be extracted, she'd been found out. But not kill her on the spot? She remembered the elevator, the prick of the needle, she reached to touched where it penetrated the skin of her arm. She just lay on the floor for a while, wondering what's going to happen to her.

Then the door in her dark room opened and Tracy looked over to it and squinted at the light, she could only see the silhouette of a man, a big man standing in the door way. She forced her self to stand, taking an aggressive stance. She wasn't going to be giving up easy.

"What the hell do you want?" She shouted her voice forceful, she wasn't about to show any fear.

The man gave a sinister smile, and laughed cruelly.

"They told me you were lippy!" and laughed again. "Boss wants you dead, it's either me or you little lady, I plan on making it me."

Tracy shrank back to the wall, it didn't make any sense to her. Why would they take all the effort of an abduction just to send some idiot to kill her, something has got to give.

"You, sir, give yourself too much credit." She hated to do this, but it was obvious that she had to, for her life.

"Less talk more kick" he charged at her and lifted her from her feet and through her across the room. Tracy felt like she was in a wrestling match, only _this_ was real.

She waited for him to come across the room, he came running and kicked her in the head.

Now that hurt! She was getting angry, and she let herself slip deeper and deeper in her anger before she stood again.

"It's on, Beavis!" She said with a wide grin that caught the man off guard. "Let's do this."

She squatted and kicked the man's legs from underneath him, he went down with an "omph" and she kicked him in the stomach. The man cringed his teeth and got up, with a fire in his eyes he charged at Tracy.

Tracy stepped aside and kicked him in the back, sending him slamming in the wall. A sound of a crack told Tracy that she had just broken his nose. The man just slumped to the floor and Tracy gave him a blow to his chest, this time aiming for his ribs. The man let out a cry of pain and curled to the floor.

Tracy just looked at him, her normal sense of pity was lost, she had no mercy for this man.

"What does your boss want from me?" She pulled the man up from his collar.

"He wants you dead!" the man shouted.

"I don't think so, now tell me!" She was angry, and she was letting out on this man.

He looked at her and gave her a mocking smile. With out Tracy he slipped his to his belt and pulled out a knife.

"I think you have underestimated me, little lady!" he pulled his knife into view. Before Tracy could react the buried the knife in her arm.

Tracy let out a shout of pain, dropped the man to the floor, and reached to cover her fresh wound. She looked at the man with a mixed expression, she was surprised but furious. His smiled cruelly at her and got to his feet, murder in his eyes.

He plunged his knife at Tracy again, but she dodged them. She noticed that the man still held his ribs gingerly, she kicked him in them again, and he let the knife go with a howl of pain.

Tracy grabbed the knife from the ground, and looked at it, covered in her blood. Suddenly the man was on his feet again.

_Dammit!_, she thought, _what does it take to take down this guy._

He hit her in the face, and got her in her already injured nose, it made a crunching sound, and blood exploded. But she still held the knife, she wouldn't let it go.

The man held her head between his big brutal hands, he was getting ready to snap her neck. His smile was again on his face.

"Say good night, little lady."

"Goodnight" Tracy said calmly as she plunged her knife on last time, clear through the man's heart. The man let Tracy go, and staggered back, pulling the knife from his chest. On his face a look a fear, clearly a man afraid to die. Then he went down one last time.

Tracy stood over his life-less body for a long moment, and prayed for his sole, she wasn't religious but death always reminded her of G-d.

Then she saw the door open again, and another silhouette appeared. Tracy had no chance to react, when it pulled out a gun and shot he square in the chest. She looked down and saw a Tranquilizer dart, she swayed for a long minute struggling against its affect. But soon her knees out, and she saw the floor hiding towards her face, then finally darkness.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So Maxwell knows this guy?" Vaughn asked.

"Obviously, this ring meant a lot to her." Sydney held the ring and looked at it. She noticed something carved on the inside the ring.

_When I'm lost in space I go back to this place, cause you're the one._

"Did you find something?" Nadia asked her sister, she's been watching her scrutinize the ring.

"It's just a lyrics of a song… a love song." Sydney looked up.

"Eddy boy and Tracy must have been more than friends." Weiss said, stating the obvious.

"I don't see how his relationship with Maxwell affects this whole situation." Vaughn pointed out.

"Whose relationship?" It was Jack, who had just appeared at the door way.

"Dad what are you…" Sydney was beginning to ask.

"I have some interesting information for you, and I couldn't share it over the telephone. So who are you were talking about." Jack asked refusing to change the subject.

"We apprehended this man on the scene, turns out he's CIA… his name is Edward Richards." Sydney explained.

Jack just stood there and shook his head.

_Poor boy_, he thought, _Tracy was everything he had left, before she was taken from him_.

"You know him?" Nadia asked.

"Yes, he was 'involved' with Tracy. But their relationship goes beyond that." Jack said.

"What do you mean 'beyond'?" asked Vaughn.

"They had a professional connection too. Edward's brother, Christopher, was Tracy's partner and contact once she went on deep cover. Chris was found out by Sergey and murdered." Jack explained. "Tracy was very close to the Richards brothers they were her only sort of family. Edward was her lover and Chris was her friend, and mentor. She always blamed her self for Chris' death."

"Why would Edward sniffing around for her?" Weiss asked.

"I need not remind Tracy was supposed to have died while undercover." Jack continued. "Edward was distraught they were his family, and he lost them in the space of a month."

"Tough" was the only thing said.

"I'll talk to him, see what he has to say." Jack said. "Where are you keeping him?"

"I'll show you" Sydney said, "Do you mind if I sit in on this?"

"No," Jack answered. "Be my guest. He might not be too happy to see me anyway."

Sydney gave him a quizzical look, but didn't say anything. She just walked him towards the farthest door down the hall. She opened the door, and saw the man still sitting where she left with his bent down. He didn't move, even though he heard the door open. She and Jack stepped in and for a second there was nothing but silence.

"Hello Edwards" Jack finally said calmly.

The man looked up sharply, a look of disbelief first, then one of complete hatred.

"You son of a Bitch!" she shouted angrily. Jack was right, there was no lost love between those two.

"I see you have managed to get yourself in trouble." Jack said simply.

"How dare you! You Bastard! Tell me how does it feel to have the blood of my brother and Tracy on your hands! Tell me how do you sleep! Did you come up with this Natasha Vladimir meet to get me too! One more head for your trophy case!" Edward's eyes were wild, filled with grief struck anger.

"Mr. Richards I think that you have grown too paranoid. I had nothing to do with the your brother's death. And I didn't set up this meet, another man did." Jack said coolly.

"You drove Tracy into that mission! It's because of you we had to put an empty coffin in the ground!" Edward showed no sign of cooling off. Sydney just kept her distance, but she doubted Edward would have noticed her.

"Tracy is a grown woman she makes her own decisions." Jack reasoned icily.

"She listened to you, if you changed her mind she would have been alive! You killed the woman that I loved!" Edward was close to tears.

"There is still that you don't know, Eddie." Jack said in an unusual warm tone, then walked out, taking Sydney with him.

Edward just let himself go and sobbed openly, for his brother, of his lover, for his life. He hadn't cried when they told him she was dead, he hadn't cried when he said his word at her memorial service, he hadn't cried when her aunt Gloria sobbed in his arms. But now he sobs when he realized that he wasn't going to be killed, that he wouldn't see her again.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

** Nothing Fails- Madonna. **

**A/N: Ok you guys… slowly click the review button! Please and thank you!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter Nine**

**A/N: Ok… here is Chapter Nine! Took me sometime on this… but all the answers are here… tell me what you think… the next chapter is coming up very soon. Review and tell me what you think… even if you're not registered… I enabled anonymous reviews. **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Sydney, the reason I came is because I been contacted by the man who abducted Tracy." Jack broke the confused silence that had settled between him and Sydney after they left Edward Richard's holding room.

"Did you get a trace?" Sydney asked.

"No he used a secure line, and he didn't talk for much." Jack replied.

"There has to be a way to find out where they're keeping Tracy, if she's even still alive." Sydney said frustrated.

"Tracy is alive, Sydney, and he wants to keep her that way. But while she may be alive, she will not be well… not with this man." Jack said a hint of concern in his voice.

"Do you know anything about him?" Sydney said, interested.

"I know more than I'd like about this him." Jack said as he pushed the door to the living room.

Everyone in the room seemed to be starring at Jack for a long second, and then finally he spoke.

"I've found who the man who took Tracy is." He said and sat on a coach.

Keen faces starred back at him, and he went on.

"The man has contacted me in Los Angeles, to let me know that he has Tracy. He is an old partner of mine, with a familiar last name. the name of the man who took Tracy is Turner Maxwell."

At that second all the jaws seemed to hit the floor.

"Maxwell?" Sydney asked, to make sure she heard it right.

"Yes, he is Tracy's father. And until he called, I assumed that he died 15 years ago." Jack said with a grave look in his eyes. "he came to take his daughter back."

"What do mean? take his daughter back in what sense?" Sydney asked.

"I was paired up with Turner when we were experimenting with projects Christmas, we were good friends. As you all know, Sydney was part of project Christmas, and so was Tracy. However, Turner took more drastic measures in his training. He was so obsessed with it he was willing to try everything on his child. This was like nothing you have ever seen, I'm talking about permanent psych damage." Jack said, looking around at all the speechless faces.

"I confronted Turner about it, told him that he should stop it, he didn't listen to me. All that mattered to him at that point was to turn his daughter to unstoppable force." Jack continued. "When the CIA found out his methods, they took his daughter from him, and put her in witness protection. He spent almost two years looking for her, he couldn't find her. He finally gave up and went back to the field, the first mission he was on after returning, he never came back. He was declared dead."

"What happened to Tracy after his father went missing?" Nadia asked

"She was pulled out of witness protecting and was given to her Aunt Gloria Brown. She was 10 years old around that time, but she was always withdrawn, she avoided confrontation. I found out that her father had did some real damage. Tracy avoids confrontation because with enough stimulation, it turned in mortal battle. Her father 'programmed' her in a way that she will not end a fight until she or her opponent are eliminated." Jack continued his grave tale, and everyone was more shocked by every word he said.

"You mean she's a human killing machine?" Vaughn asked, a little satisfaction in his voice, he was right about Tracy.

"I managed to counter some of the programming, but under extreme circumstance, there is no controlling what she could do. I'm afraid Turner knows this, he will be reconditioning her. We need to get her back as soon as possible." Jack concluded.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

_Not again!_ Was the first thing that Tracy thought when she began to regain consciousness. When she tried to open her eyes this time, light assaulted her. The room was so bright, it stung her eyes.

She groaned and began to sit up, when at last she managed to it, she saw a man on the other side of the room looking at her. He was waiting patiently for her to regain herself.

"Back to the living I see." He said, his voice sent chills down her spins.

"Who are you? Did the boss send you too?" Tracy asked her voice still groggy.

"No, I wasn't sent by the boss. I _am _the boss." He said as he lit a cigarette arrogantly.

"What a damn honor!" Tracy said with bitter sarcasm.

"You're a very interesting person Tracy… I'm looking for a little partnership deal between us."

_That guy has guts_, Tracy thought angrily.

"It depends on what you mean by partnership… and besides you seem to have an advantage on me; I doubt you'd let me walk out of here if I said no."

"I don't think refusing my offer would be good for your well-being." He took a deep drag from his cigarette. "So I suggest you have some time to think about this."

"No need" Tracy cut him off. "I'm not gonna say no… I'm going to go with a hell no!"

"Auntie Gloria wouldn't be too happy with your language." The man looked at her with a cold stare.

Tracy jumped up and knocked the man out of his chair. She held him against the wall by the neck.

"Don't you talk about my family you son of a bitch!"

"That's not the way you should talk to your father young lady." He said, with a smug smile on his face.

"My father is dead!" she slammed him against the wall again.

"So are you Tracy…aren't you dead? Isn't there a head stone out there with your name on it?"

"How the hell do you know me!" She said angrily now, her patience was running out.

"I know a lot about Tracy, I know that your mother died half an hour after you were born. I know that were part of a certain program when you were a child. I know that you have a tattoo on your left shoulder of you initials."

Tracy's mind raced, no one knew about that tattoo, she had it removed. The only people that knew about it were Jack and her father.

"I don't have a tattoo, jackass!" Tracy said angrily and exposed her left shoulder.

"You make me proud, Tracy. Removing anything that would link you to me… that's smart." The man said in a strange tone.

"You make me sick!" Tracy had her face up in his.

"Like I said I would give you sometime to think about my proposal." He said calmly. "Being my daughter and all."

Tracy wanted to kill that man. but she felt a little prick in the back of her neck, she let the man go, and looked back. A guard with a tranquilizer gun.

This is really getting old, she thought as she fell to her knees.

"And don't worry about calling me 'daddy' just call me Turner." The last thing was the man fixing his shirt and looking down at her, then the darkness came again.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack walked back into the idle make-shift command center in the safe house, there just wasn't any intel right now.

"I just got off the phone with Director Chase, she gave clearance to tell our detained friend about APO. She said he might be of some help, and there wasn't any way we can put him back in the CIA after he saw Sydney and I obviously doing some intelligence work." Jack announced to everybody.

"You mean we're going to tell this guy that Tracy is alive?" Weiss asked.

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying, and believe when I tell you that we're going to need all the help we can get when up against Turner Maxwell." Jack said with a grave expression.

"What's to tell us that Tracy doesn't turn once she gets equated with her Daddy?" Vaughn asked, always the skeptic when it came to Tracy.

"Mr. Vaughn I know Tracy, and she hates what her father has done to her, I'm sure that Sydney could relate to that." He gave a quick glance towards Sydney who shifted uncomfortably.

"I would like to remind you, that I would have to answer to no one about this, since I got Sloan's and Directors Chase go ahead." Jack said forcefully, Vaughn was annoying him more than usual today.

Jack didn't say another word and walked towards the hall, no one said a word. When Jack got to the door, he stopped for a second and straightened himself. This wasn't going to be easy. Finally, he unlocked the door and walked in.

Edward had his head again, and Jack was sure he was asleep. Jack cleared his throat and Edward's head shot up, his eyes were unfocused and puffy, obviously he had been crying. But his confused look was soon replaced by an angry one. Jack wondered how long this man would hold a grudge.

"How are you Edward?" Jack asked, setting the pace for a slow conversation.

"What do you care!" Edward shot back.

"I may not care, but Tracy does, so it matters to me. It hasn't been a pleasant couple of months for you." Jack said smoothly, making sure he kept the frost bite out of his voice.

"That's gotta be the understatement of the century." Edward said, too drained to fight.

"Edward, there is a lot of explaining for me to do. But you're going to have to let me talk."

"What is there is to explain… I don't think anything you can say to me will make me feel better." Edward voice was dripping with bitterness.

"You'd be surprised." Jack approached Edward and removed his restraints. Edward rubbed his wrists.

"I'm sorry about all this Ed, but we didn't know what to expect, you have to understand." Edward said nothing so Jack continued. "I'm sure you have heard that I left the CIA just after Tracy went on her mission. I was recruited by the new Black-Ops. The mission that you stumbled on, was our, we are the ones that set up the meet with Vladimir."

"So it wasn't real?"

"No, it was, for us. But we were set up." Jack said.

"Why would Vladimir set you up?" Edward asked "Was Tracy's cover already blown before she died? So he kills her, then set up a meet to find out who she working with?"

"Vladimir didn't kill Tracy, and her cover wasn't blown." Jack answered. "That's why we thought he set up the meeting… we thought he was looking for his niece after having reason to believe she survived the attack on his brother's command center."

"Why would he have reason to believe that?"

"Because she did." Jack said calmly.

Edward gave a little confused laugh.

"No Tracy died that night, the CIA said so. We had a funeral."

"You buried an empty coffin, Edward."

"They told me that it would be too risky to get her body, she died when an unidentified group raided Sergey's HQ." Edward answered, baffled. What was jack getting at? Tracy was dead. Why would the CIA lie.

"The mission that took down Sergey's HQ was originally an information gathering mission. In and out. But when the operative was exposed, the mission turned sour, and a take down took place." Jack said. "I know this because it was a black ops mission, and the operative was my daughter. Tracy saved her life in there."

"Tracy died protecting your daughter?" Edward said his anger becoming obvious now.

"Edward… I'm afraid the hit received on you head has hampered you ability to think!" Jack said. "Tracy isn't dead! She was extracted by the team, and she has been working with us in Los Angeles. She was taken yesterday."

"Tracy is not alive! She is dead! Is this some sort of psychological torture or something! I'm not buying it." Edward was standing now.

"Edward sit down! I have no reason to lie to you!" Jack said forcefully.

That when the door opened and Sydney walked in. Jack got up and walked to wards her.

"What does _she_ want!" Edward complained.

"I see you're having no luck with Mr. Congeniality over there." Sydney whispered to her father.

"No, he doesn't believe me." Jack whispered back.

"Do you mind if I talk to him, I have something that might get him to believe us."

"Be my guest." Jack gave a little shrug, and turned back to Edward. "Edward, this is my daughter Sydney, she say she has something that she says might be able to convince you that I'm telling the truth."

"I doubt it!" Edward snapped.

"You can at least give a chance to explain, Mr. Richards." Sydney said calmly.

"You threatened me and kept me up all night, now you're going to lie to me… I think you can call me Edward!" He said bitterly.

"Fine, Edward. I'm not going to say much. I'm just gonna show you these two things." Sydney pulled out the ring and the paper. She handed them over to Edward.

_It cant be_, Edward thought when he saw the ring he gave Tracy a month before she went on the mission, and in his other hand was his name on a piece of paper, with her neat penmanship.

"Where did you get these?" Edward asked still a little confused.

"Tracy gave them to me, she told me she wanted you to have them back, she wanted you to move on." Sydney said in sympathetic tone. "Did you love her?"

"I knew she was the woman I'm gonna fall for the first time my brother brought her over to dinner. I didn't love her, what we had was more than love." He said in a quiet.

He felt the ring in his fingers then noticed that there was a carving inside it.

"'When I get lost in space I can return to this place, 'cause you're the one'" he read the words carefully. "She loved that song, she use to whisper these words to me every time she went away. She never said it before she left the last time."

"We'll she's saying them now. We wanna help us get her back." Sydney was kneeling next to Edward now, he let a single tear fall to his left cheek.

He nodded his head then looked up at Jack.

"When all this is over, I want out. Me and her… new names, new homes, the works. We don't belong here anymore."

"You have it." Jack said affirmatively.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: Tada! So tell me do you like, do you not like it… REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter Ten**

**A/N: Ok you guys I know this chapter is a little overdue… but I was just a little busy… I made it up to you… this chapter is longer so I hope you enjoy it. I didn't get any reviews for the last 2 chapters…. So please tell me what you think… even if you don't like it, I promise no hard feelings! So get reading, and please take some extra time to review… thank you!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It had been better when Tracy knew her father was dead, she preferred the image she had of him than the truth. He was a monster, a man with out a heart.

To he was just a father that had made some mistakes. Now she realized that they weren't mistakes, but cruel decisions. It is in the end that fate had showed her what her father was, a man that deserved no compassion.

"Have you given some thought to my offer?" He said, a cigarette in his mouth. His words were muffled.

"I told you yesterday…but I'll say it again… no. damn. Way!" Tracy sat in the corner far away from him, but she still managed to feel some chills up her spine. She was truly felt disgusted by this man, and wondered how she could have come from someone so horrible.

"Tracy, darling, that is not a choice." He said casually like he just told her that she couldn't keep a stray she brought home.

"Then I suggest you reconsider your options, 'cause I will not changing my mind." She met his casual tone. He looked at her for a long moment.

"It seems to me that you need some help brainstorming… I'll send some friends of mine… they can help you answer my question the next time I ask." He quietly flipped his cigarette to the floor, stepped on it, and walked out.

Tracy sat alone for a while and wondered who her father will send to 'help' her this time. The last guy he sent really ready to kill her, she wondered if these guys had a different objective. He said friends, how many did that mean? two? Three? Five? She hated being at the mercy of her alleged father, or anyone for that matter.

She wondered what happened to her emergencies tracker. Had it gone off when they took her? Doubtful. Help would be here if it did.

Tracy continued to look around her 'accommodation' as he father had put it. It was definitely not meant for comfort, there wasn't anything to sleep on, just the floor. Of course she didn't have to worry about that, someone will probably shoot her with a tranquilizer soon enough!

She wished Edward was here, she missed his arms around her when she slept, she missed when he kissed he eyelids while she sleeping just to annoy her, she missed his little whispers in her ear when it was time to wake up. She wondered if Sydney would give him her ring, she wondered if he would notice the words, if he would realize that she was alive, waiting for him to find her.

The rough sound of the door opening snapped her out of her thoughts, she looked up towards the door. This time she saw two men standing there.

_At least its not five men!_ But when they came closer, she thought they looked like rejects from the World Wrestling Foundation. _Oh boy!_

"Hi there! you boys lost?" she thought she'd make a joke, but the two guys just stared blankly at her, in their eyes a stillness, like there was no conscious to prohibit them from doing what the hell they wanted with her.

"Boss said you need some roughing up" One of them finally answered. His words were slurred and he sounded dumb.

"Is that right?" she said causally standing. "Why is that?"

"We don't ask questions." The other one was the one to reply this time, he sounded gruff, and angry.

"You always do what you're told?" she asked mockingly. "Just a nicely trained… guy."

_They might as well kill me… I don't have anything to live for._ She thought.

The men just gave her a grin. Which made Tracy wonder what was it with bad guys and evil grins.

"You better watch that mouth girly… might get ya in a whole lot of trouble." The gruff man advised her.

"More than this?" Tracy said, looking around. "I don't think so"

The gruff man nudged the other guy and headed towards Tracy.

"Now this wont hurt too much if you don't act like a hero, alright?"

"Who said anything about being a hero?" Tracy said with a smile. And she let the man hold her hands behind her back.

"See you're not so bad after all." The gruff man touched her face with the back of his hand. Tracy gave him a hint of smile and slammed her face against his, he reeled back screaming obscenities.

_Then again… kicking some butt might be fun_, she thought. She slammed her foot down on the foot of the man behind her and when he let go she pun around and kicked him in the stomach.

"You guys have to do better than that!" Tracy stood tall while the two men looked at her with murderous intents.

"You're gonna pay for this bitch!" The gruff man said, the slow one just nodded.

He charged at her and swinging his fist, Tracy ducked and caught him in an upper cut to the chin. He must have bit his tongue cause he spit out some blood.

"You ok Lou?" The slow guy said.

"Get her dip shit!" Lou commanded.

The slow man looked at Tracy a little bit intimidated. Tracy took the chance and charged at him first. Kicking and punching him, this guy was heavy set and it was harder to bring him down.

Then Tracy saw a flash of white and then incredible pain followed. The man behind her had hit her with something on the back of the neck.

Tracy fell to the ground, dazed. She felt like her eyes were marbles on the loose and she couldn't focus.

"Not so tough are you now!" Lou daunted and Tracy tried to regain some control over herself. That's when she felt a powerful kick to her stomach. Then one to the chest. She was breathless, and helpless while the kicking continued. Finally came a kick to the head and she found herself sinking into darkness. There was no need to worry about sleeping after all.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack was taking a walk outside to clear his head when his cell phone rang again.

"Bristow." He said in icy demeanor.

"Jack! How are you? Any luck finding Tracy? I don't think so… well that's too bad! that girl is fighter. I'm afraid she's too stubborn for her own well being." Turner had a cocky voice.

"What did you do her Turner? She's your daughter!" Jack was shouting now.

"Yes, Jack… My daughter! But you turned her into something else. You trying to make up for your daughter aren't you? You were too weak Jack! You couldn't see beyond your feeling!" Turner mocked.

"I'm not the weak one Turner. I was a father!"

"You're not my daughter's father, Jack! Next time you see her she would be mine!" Turner shouted and hung up.

"That Bastard!" Jack said as he dialed Marshall. "Did you track the last call?"

"You bet I did Mr. Bristow… I've been tracking all of them… was that him?" Marshall asked.

"Yes. Do you have a location?" Jack asked, eager to find out.

"Well the last call was really secure and I couldn't really pin point his position…. I tried.." Marshall hesitated.

"So we don't have a position?" Jack said angrily.

"Not a complete one sir, but I think this partial information would be important…. It's pretty surprising."

"What is it?" Jack asked, calmer now.

"Well… Sir… it's not in France." Marshall said still a little intimidated.

"Are you sure?" Jack said taking a deep breath.

"No… I mean yes… yes… yes sir, I'm sure… it came from Italy. Who ever called you, called from Italy." Marshall stumbled over his words.

"Inform Sloan. We'll be leaving to Italy soon." Jack said and hung up.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"So he took her to Italy? What do you guys do now?" Edward was sitting with the rest of the team now, his eyes were still blood shot, but some how Jack doubted he would get any sleep even if he was asked to get some.

"Well we're going to leave to Italy first thing in the morning. We'll see what we're going to do from there." Jack answered.

"Are we sure that the call came from Italy? What if Turner isn't with Tracy?" Vaughn asked.

"He is." Jack assured simply.

"But we don't know what part of Italy?" Vaughn asked again skeptical.

"No."

"Then why go? I don't think her father will hurt anyway."

"He will do what ever it takes to break her. He has been violent with her as a child, he'll do it now!" Jack said forcefully.

"Chris told me that guy was a bastard!" Edward whispered.

"Let's get ready… tomorrow we leave before sunrise." Jack ordered one last time and left the room. He would get Tracy back if it was the last thing he does.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Edward sat alone in a room they gave him, he should sleep, but he couldn't. not with her out there and he cant get to her. He kept looking at that ring he gave Tracy. He wished he could feel the metal warm from her skin, he wished she would whisper in his right ear, telling him it was ok.

But it wasn't ok. He found it hard to believe that he was taking this worse than her death. When he thought she was dead, he'd like that she had found peace. But now, he was sure she wasn't any type of peace.

He touched a sliver chain she had given him for his birthday, it had his and hers initials on it. He undid it and removed it from his neck. After a long time of just looking at it, he slipped the ring through the chain and put it back on.

There was a knock at the door; Edward looked towards it for a long time before he replied.

"Who is it?"

"It's Sydney." Sydney's voice answered. He took a deep breath.

"Come on in"

The door opened slowly and Sydney pocked her head from behind it, she smiled and opened the door completely.

"Were you asleep?" Sydney asked, a little regretful.

"No, no!" he said getting up from the bed. "I cant really sleep."

"Well… we found a near by McDonalds, Weiss, Vaughn, and Nadia went to get us some food." Sydney said, with a warm encouraging smile. "Maybe you're just hungry."

"I don't think it's that simple, but thank you." He said with a hint of a smile.

"I know it isn't easy." Sydney offered. "You want to talk about it?"

"I don't think you really know, but sure… I'd like to have some company." He looked tired as he fumbled, pointing for the couch.

"We've all had our share of missing, and dead lovers, Edward." Sydney said simply. "They should put in the job description."

Edward gave a little laugh. Sydney was relieved she could get him to show some expression of brief happiness.

"Of course," he said, a little surprise. "how could it slip my mind? Sydney Bristow... You were dead for a while weren't you? I mean not dead but like presumed dead…"

"Does everybody know about that?" Sydney rolled her eyes.

"Not really… Jack was a pretty big mess after your funeral… Tracy opened her door once and he was just standing right there." he explained. "I was with her at the time."

"How long did you know Tracy?" Sydney asked a bit curious.

"We've known each other for about 5… 6 years or something. Chris brought her over for dinner, she was his new partner." He said but then suddenly looked down and a smiled filled his face. "I remember when I first saw her, my heart seemed to flitter or something."

He looked up at Sydney his eyes were sparkling with the memories.

"And she felt the same way, of course." Sydney said.

"Not really!" He said laughing a little. "She thought I was a wimp. I was still in training! But she began to hang out with me, we became really good friends. It took me two years to get her to agree to go out with me!"

"We'll get her back" Sydney assured him in a kind low voice.

"I know" he nodded. "She wouldn't let them take her, she's better than that."

"Sydney?" Vaughn was calling from outside the room.

"I guess they're back with dinner… you wanna give it a go. She wouldn't want you starving to death!" Sydney gave him a soft smile.

"But you would!" Edward said with a clumsy wide grin.

"I was only starving you for interrogation purposes!" Sydney said in a fake shocked voice.

"Fine… I always wanted to taste French French-fries!" Edward smiled and walked out of the room, Sydney soon followed him.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Tracy didn't find herself guided back to consciousness by a headache, as had become her habit. It was more like an ache party. For a second she had actually convinced herself that pain was the natural state of existence.

She would have groaned, but she couldn't even do that. She slowly opened her eyes, and thanked G-d the room was dark.

She felt a presence next to her and immediately tensed up. She flinched in the fear that someone was still her waiting to give her some grinding.

"Shhh… it's ok sweetheart… it's alright!" soothed a mild man's voice. The voice reminded Tracy of a voice of an old man in her old building in DC. A kind man, who always seemed to have a fatherly concern for her, he didn't like Edward very much when they first started going out.

Tracy tried to look at the man, but all she could do was make a little pained sound.

"I know…. I know it hurts." He said softly. "Hurts everywhere doesn't it? Those mean folks did some work on" The man talked to her like she was a child.

Finally Tracy managed to gather all her strength to ask one simple question.

"Who…are you?" she said in a labored way that surprised her.

"Don't try to speak just yet, sweetheart. My name is Nicholas Wellesley…. You can call me Nick." His voice was so warm Tracy began to relax. "So why are you here sugar? and why'd they hurt you so bad?" He asked in a regretful way.

Nick looked at Tracy, she was still sprawled on the floor the way she was when he came in here, he didn't want to move her until he knew that none of those ribs were broken.

"Now, I'm afraid this gonna hurt a little, but I'm gonna have to see if any of your ribs are broken."

Tracy was getting a little more coherent and a little bit more strong, so she managed a soft nod. The man placed a gentle hand on he side and he touched her ribs. The pain made Tracy bit her lip so hard she drew some blood.

"Don't worry sweetheart, they aren't broken. They are pretty banged up though, you should feel better in a couple of days."

"You a.. doctor?" Tracy asked weakly.

"I was before they put me in this hell hole four months ago." He looked down and shook his head.

Tracy finally found enough strength to sit up. Nick rushed to stop her but she shook her head.

"It's ok." She said in a scratchy voice.

He leaned back and watched her sit up on her own, she leaned back on the wall, and finally that groan of pain came. She looked up at Nick, his voice gave him justice. He had a broad body, and white-gray hear. He looked like what a grandfather would look in a movie.

"How long have I been out, Nick?" Tracy asked gingerly touching her forehead, where a rough gash-bruise combination had emerged from where Lou had kicked her.

"I was here for half an hour now… but it's George that brought me here. He said he and his buddy Lou had been banging you up, and the boss told them to keep you alive, but you've been out for 3 hours and he was getting pretty scared the boss was gonna find out they missed you up so bad." The doctor explained.

"Believe me that boss wouldn't give two bits if they wasted me!" Tracy whispered bitterly.

"Yah that Turner Maxwell is a true piece of trash!" Nick said some bitterness seeping into his voice. "You didn't till me you're name sweetheart." He politely pointed out.

"Pam…" Tracy answered with a smile. "Pam Lambert."

Tracy decided against telling Nick who she really was, she didn't want to ruin a friendship that could be with this man... he seemed nice. So she thought she'd use her alias.

Tracy tried to extend a hand, but pain shot up her body.

"Don't try to move to much, at least until tomorrow… why did this happen to you anyway?" He asked a little concerned.

"I didn't give the boss man something that he wanted from me." Tracy said simply.

Then the door opened and Lou appeared.

"You brought her back doc?" He said obnoxiously.

"She need something for the pain." Nick pleaded with him.

"I've got something for her here doc." Lou said holding up his tranq gun.

Nick almost jumped at the sight of it.

"You cant!" he protested, not realizing the gun had tranquilizer darts in it instead of bullets.

"Relax Doc! Aint nothing here but tranqs!" Lou said.

Nick looked back at Tracy and she just nodded at him, it was ok. He nodded back and left with George, the slow guy, who just appeared behind Lou.

"Sweet dreams!" Lou said sarcastically and shot Tracy in the arm.

Tracy didn't fight the effects this time, she just let herself drift into a sleepless, painless slumber.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: C'mon you guys… here's the end of chapter 10! Someone please review! It only takes one second!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter Eleven**

**A/N: Ok.. I know I'm not updating at my usual pace but something have been coming up now that college is coming back to haunt me. I will update as soon as possible. And now for the Thank-You section (drum roll please): **

**Lunours: Thank you so much… little tidbit… there is a lot in store for him in the next few chapters… maybe something would change your mind. **

**MartinaCruz: It's good to have you back… thanks for the review.**

**Ok and now with no further ado… I give you the eleventh chapter of The Sins Of The Fathers .enjoy! and please review!**

Another day before the sunrise, another empty air strip. Nadia sipped her café latté quietly. No one was in the mood to talk today, even Weiss was cranky from the lack of sleep last night.

Nadia watched as her sister talked to Vaughn, in their eyes something intimate. He whispered something in her ear that made a silly grin appear across her face. Weiss was complaining to Edward about last night restlessness, and Edward just nodded, clearly not have had a better night himself. Jack was talking to the pilot, going over the route of the flight, even though the flight was relatively microscopic to all the trans-ocean flights they were use to taking. Dixon was on the phone, something very serious in his eyes.

The day just had a foreboding feeling to it. Even as the sun began to illuminate the sky, Nadia's uneasiness didn't subside. She felt a shiver rising in her, even though the weather was warm.

Every time Nadia left a country she felt a stab of regret. She has been to all these beautiful places and never really saw any of them. All that she saw were statistics, targets, and objectives. She has been to France about 8 times now, and not once has she taken the time to just simply look at the Eiffel Tower.

Nadia through away the empty Styrofoam cup, that was once filled with steaming coffee into a nearby trash bin. She looked down at her fingers. Little known fact about her, she smoked when she was all wild and rowdy in her teens, and on days she felt like this, she missed cigarettes, but vowed never to return to them.

Dixon had finished with his phone call, and wasn't looking too pleased. In fact, he looked as though he was going to slam his phone to the floor and stomp over it any second now.

Nadia approached him slowly, hoping to get her mind off those damn cigarettes. He seemed more upset up-close, and concern began to appear in Nadia's eyes.

"What's wrong Dixon?" her voice was laced with sympathy, and a little bit of fear.

He looked up at her and drew a deep breath. He closed his eyes and after a little bit the little lines around them eased a little and he opened his eyes and released his breath with a sigh.

"Your father wants me back at APO. I'm not going to Italy with the team." He said, a little disappointed.

"Why?" Nadia was a little held aback.

"I don't know. I suspect your father wants me to help Marshall out on that end. It was Marshall on the phone, calling from work; it's late over there. he's been working himself to the bone, trying to find Tracy." Dixon sounded more sorry for Marshall than regretful at his own withdrawal from the team.

"What are you going to do now?"

"I'm going to tell Jack." Dixon said and excused himself. He clearly didn't like being left out on this mission, but was concerned about his friend. A noble man.

Nadia watched from afar when Dixon approached Jack. No emotion what so ever, She didn't like that about Jack. But she couldn't bring herself to condemn him for it, he clearly had a more than a shady past, that he must live with everyday. Even looking at his daughter would remind him of a mistake he has made. Suddenly the wonder Nadia felt about Jack was replaced with pity. The man had more things to deal with than any man should have.

"Hey." Weiss said from behind, and Nadia jumped at her voice.

He chuckled at her reaction, and Nadia noticed that his mood was letting up. She smiled at him, and he gave her a shy grin.

"Sorry about being so cranky this morning… well more like night" Weiss gave her an apolitical smile.

"It's ok… it's understandable under the circumstances. How's Edward?" She asked returning a smile.

"That dude isn't too much of a talker… but believe me it isn't easy for him. He was looking for closure, but opened up old wounds." Weiss shrugged.

Nadia didn't say anything. There isn't much you can say to someone who had to go through a lot of trouble because of the job, you just tried to make sense of it and move on. But somehow moving on wasn't going to be an easy option.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Pam!" Tracy heard someone calling in the darkness. "Pam! Sugar… you need to wake up!"

Tracy refused to be aroused. She couldn't face it anymore, not the dark room, not the violent guards, not the anger, and not her father.

Slowly she allowed herself to slip back into the darkness, she pushed the dreams back, she didn't want any type awareness. She could still feel some one shaking her, begging her to wake up.

Then something assaulted her nostrils, and she took a deep, sharp, startled breath. Then awareness washed upon her, her eyes fluttered open and her breaths became rapid. For a second she forgot where she was, and all she could feel was pain. Panic washed over here and she felt her heart banging against her ribs asking to be released from its cage.

Nick saw the look of sheer terror in Tracy's eyes, and he quickly held her tight, rocking her like a child whispering soothingly in her ear.

"Shhh… it's alright sweetheart. Shhh." Nick continued to speak to her gently, while tears fell involuntary from Tracy's eyes.

Slowly Tracy calmed and remembered where she was, and why it hurt so much. She quickly pulled away from Nick, embarrassed from her weakness. She slowly got to her feet although he injured body protested with screams of pain.

Tracy finally stood on shaky legs, and watched as Nick got to his feet. He was pretty agile for his age. She saw some smelling salts in his hand. It dawned on her that they probably were what flamed her nostrils. She suddenly felt so cold and she hugged herself, forgetting her injured ribs. They howled in pain at her touch, and Tracy let out a whimper. The pain caught Tracy off guard and she found the room spinning.

Nick rushed over to her and caught her just as her knees buckled. He put her down on the floor gently, propping her against the wall. Tracy waited until her head stopped feeling so heavy to open her eye.

"You shouldn't have been standing Pam." Nick looked at her with concern but his voice was that of authority.

_Yup!_, Tracy thought, _This guy was definitely a doctor_.

Her alias still sounded weird to her, it felt foreign and unnatural. Pam is name she would have to get use to if she gets out; _if_.

"Sorry, doc. I'm not a good patient." She said with a little chuckle. Then her face turned serious and tear stung her eyes. "I don't want to do this anymore Nick! I don't want to… he won't stop until I do what he wants! I was wrong… so wrong… he's… he's horrible!"

Tracy tried to get up again but Nick's firm hand kept her down. She looked at him and she couldn't help it anymore, she surrendered to the tears. Nick just watched her with sad eyes, and wiped tears from her bruised face. When she looked at him she saw in him someone for a second and she laughed at her little vision. He looked at her in weird way, worried that she'd lost her mind.

"You reminded me of someone Nick. You don't look like him, you don't act like him, you just remind of him in a strange way." Tracy couldn't believe that Nick reminded her of Jack for a nanosecond.

"Is that right Sugar?" he said with his grandfather smile. "I must have remind you of him in someway."

"He looked after me when my father… walked out." She said remembering the night she got sick and Jack carried her to the doctor and back to her room where she wouldn't let him go.

"That bastard Maxwell sure let his dogs do some work on you." He said touching her bruised forehead caringly.

"How did you get in here?" Tracy realized she hadn't asked the most obvious question.

"George brought me… he wanted me to check on you again... he's really scared his buddy Lou hurt you so bad the boss would come down on them. When you wouldn't wake up I told him to get me the smelling salts from the first aid kit." The look of concern still in his eyes.

"I didn't want to wake up." Tracy said bitterly.

"What? And miss all this, Pam!" Nick gestured around him sarcastically. "You gotta be tougher than that!" he said more seriously now.

"You don't know the half of it Nick." Tracy muttered.

"Of course I don't know… you didn't tell me anything about yourself!" He protested.

Tracy just looked at the man she had come to trust, a man that reminded her of Jack in a weird way. She didn't know what to tell him.

"Well? Are you going to say anything?" He asked after a while of silence.

"I'm Turner Maxwell's daughter, Nick!" Tracy finally blurted.

"What?" He laughed nervously. "You cant be Maxwell's daughter! He… he wouldn't put you in this shit hole!"

Nick got tense and paced the place. He wouldn't even look at Tracy, he was torn between the girl he knew and Maxwell's daughter.

"Nick, your burning a whole into the ground, Stop pacing!" Tracy commanded him, but he wouldn't stop moving. She got up and felt a searing pain but somehow stopped herself from falling back to the ground.

She slowly walked over to Nick and touched his arm. Nick stopped instantly, and looked at Tracy with unreadable eyes. That's when he saw them; her eyes looked exactly like Turner's.

"You are his daughter aren't you?"

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you before… I just… you didn't seem to like him so much and I didn't want to… to lose what ever friendship we might have… I needed a friend." Tracy pleaded with him.

"I know Turner's daughter and her name isn't Pam." He was hoping against hope that this wasn't true. That this is not the girl that Turner had boasted about.

"You know Turner? How do you…" Tracy began to ask but was interrupted by Nick.

"Her name isn't Pam… his daughter, her name is… Beatrice…. Bristow said the little girl's name was Beatrice!" Nick was getting frantic now.

"Yes, it's true…. My name is Beatrice… Tracy… but I told you my name was Pam because I didn't want to say anything that would stop you from… wait… did you say 'Bristow' ?" A million questions ran through Tracy's head like thunder had just struck her. "How do you know Jack? _Why_ do you know Jack?"

It all came back to Nick now. Bristow had come to him with a case file, Turner's daughter. Jack was afraid the girl was being harshly pushed by her father. Of course Jack was right, the little girl shouldn't have been this pressured by her father. He signed a paper, that said it was in the best interest of the child that she is taken from her father, and he saw her once after that. He was right in his assessment; the girl was permanently damaged, he didn't think she could function normally. He handed her case to another doctor, and heard that she was better after a while, although he never believed it.

He quickly gave Tracy a recap of what happened and Tracy sank back to the ground, all her pain suddenly coming back to her.

"Why do I always have to run into the CIA everywhere I go! For once I want to meet someone not in bed with the government!" she complained aloud. She looked at Nick his face a bit darker now that he knew Tracy's little secret. "So I guess you weren't really a doctor in the way George thought!"

"I've studied and been practicing general medicine after I left the CIA." He said simply. "Until your father sought me out and brought me to this damned place. He told me that he was looking for you and soon as he had you, you would be everything he wanted of you."

"He wanted a killer, too bad for him, I was born with a conscience." Tracy said sarcastically.

"Is that why you're here Tracy?" Nick sounded like he was practicing her name.

"Yah… that's what I'm in for."

They looked at each other for a long time until George appeared at the door and took Nick.

_Damn!_, Tracy thought, _When I'm going back home, I'm through with this! No more CIA_.

She promised herself she would keep that promise, and after a while she started to practice standing with out passing out.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

It's been three days, three long days, and Jack had found nothing. Marshall having had the same luck, there was still nothing to go on. The team was getting restless, and so was Sloan.

"Jack, have you ever considered the possibility that Tracy is already dead?" Sloan said in his business tone.

"Turner wouldn't killer her, not yet anyway." Jack matched Sloan's tone, and adding a touch a cool to his voice.

"What makes you think that Jack?" Sloan asked almost mockingly.

"If she was dead, Turner would take it as a failure on my part. He would flaunt her for me to see what my mistakes have lead to." Jack continued in the same tone.

"Jack, I don't like saying this.. but, we have other issues to focus on. I will not allow a personal vendetta against Turner to cloud your judgment." Sloan said forcefully. "You have two more days Jack. When you come back bring that's Richards fellow with you… he can take Tracy's spot."

Sloan hung up, and it took a lot of self discipline not to jump up and down shouting at Sloan to stop being such a closed minded idiot.

"That wasn't good news, was it?" Sydney voice came from the door. Jack turned and saw his daughter standing with her arms crossed against her chest.

"No it wasn't… Sloan wants us back at APO by day after tomorrow. He says Edward can fill the gap left by Tracy." Jack said bitterly.

Sydney let her arms fall to her side, and tucked some loose hair behind her ear.

"Marshal hadn't found anything yet?"

"No." Jack answered simply.

"Edward wouldn't take the job, dad." Sydney said ominously.

"Yes I know." Jack's cell phone rang before he could say anything else.

"Bristow." He said coldly.

"Jack!" Turner answered back.

Sydney turned to leave, but Jack waved his hand for her to stay.

"Turner." Jack said it out loud so that Sydney would know what to do.

She grabbed her cell phone and dialed up Marshall.

"Trace the number my dad is on with, now!"

"I'm already on it, Syd." Marshall fumbled audibly with his keyboard.

"I thought you might want to know what happened to Tracy." Turner said arrogantly.

"Where is she?" Jack demanded.

"She's where she belongs Jack… with me!" Turner shouted. "But I have to say she is not as responsive as I wanted her to be. Nice combat training though… very impressive. Your handy work, I believe."

"It's her training… she's CIA."

"Oh I know you took her in to the family business, Jack. But there are undeniable traces of you in her. Of course, that wouldn't be for long."

Turner hung up and Jack just stood there for a while, then looked at the cell phone. He _really_ wanted to smash it now.

"I've lost the connection!" Marshall complained on the line with Sydney.

"Did you find anything we can use?" Sydney asked urgently.

"I think… if I can.. yah I could.." Marshall seemed to be talking to himself.

"Marshall! Do you have something or not!" Sydney demanded.

"Yes.. yes! Just give me a couple of hours… I have narrowed the position down close enough… I just need to get some satellite surveillance…. Give me a few hours and I will have… a target for you… just a couple a hours." Sydney looked at her watched and realized how late it must be for Marshall. She regretted being so pushy.

"Thanks Marshall." She said in a soft tone.

"Anything?" Jack asked with as much concern that he could have in his voice.

"We'll have a target in a couple of hours." Sydney looked at her father and relief seemed to wash over his face. "I'm going to tell the others."

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: Tada! Chapter eleven! I know the story has more twists than a pretzel and a Mexican soup opera… but bare with me… only a couple of more chapters to go.. please review and tell me what you think. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**A/N: I am sooo sorry that this is sooo late… but I was moving… between countries… and getting all the paper work to my college… believe me I would have done this sooner if I could. Thank you for the reviews! I just hope you guys haven't given up! Alright here we go… ok… things are happening again! And there is a little bit of fluff their at the end… but not too much. This chapter is the first of the last three or four… I decided that there is more to this thank I initially thought… so please be patient! Enjoy and tell me what you think!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Marshall's eye lids were heavy, and it felt like his arms would fall off from exhaustion. He gulped a mouthful of black cold coffee. He had barely slept for 3 hours in the last 5 days, and it was beginning to take its toll on him,

But he couldn't stop working now, he had something to work with, to find Tracy, to bring her home. It was unbelievable how much he had missed her. After all those years he worked alone, he had her to keep him company, and she had become a close friend.

The phone call had narrowed down his search to an area that he could find the most probable location in using some satellite surveillance.

Of course the caller wasn't sloppy, not at all. This was the hardest thing to track, it was rerouted so many time it would make someone else's head spin. But not Marshall, it took him a while, put he had found what he was looking for.

The satellite was coming into position in 10 minutes, and Marshall worked with lighting speed to get everything ready to go. When the satellite came into position, Marshall quickly found 3 potentials.

He switched the view into infrared to pick up on anybody heat, and he couldn't believe his luck. Out of the three potential targets, only one had people in it. A lot of people, enough for people for a headquarters.

Marshall's eyes were wide with excitement, he actually got up from his chair and started jumping, he found Tracy. He finally found her. He ran out of his office towards Dixon's.

"Dixon… Dixon" he was out of breath from the running. "I found… found… it.. Tracy… I found the.. the HQ!"

Dixon got up from his seat quickly and walked towards Sloan's office, followed by Marshall.

"Marshall found Turner Maxwell's HQ." Dixon said as he burst into Sloan's office.

"Where?" Sloan asked.

"About 30 miles northwest of Rome, sir.. there are a lot of country homes there sir.. one of them.. is the HQ." Marshall answered.

"Get me the exact coordinates" Sloan ordered Marshall then turned to Dixon. "Get Jack on a secure line. They'll go in ASAP."

Marshall's stomach knotted. He was nervous again as he ran back to his office, he was getting jumpy again. He silently hoped that nothing would happen this time that happened last time he got this nervous.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Tracy could say, that this is about the longest she has stayed conscious in this place. She was straining to hear voices, trying to see something through the high barred window, but there was nothing. It was extremely quiet, and the window was too high since she had nothing that was above floor level in her cell.

Her ribs were feeling a lot better, and now that her head had cleared she felt much better. Her legs were still a little shaky, but after some stretching and running along the cell walls, she had complete confidence in them.

The cell wasn't as small as Tracy thought it to be, but since it was almost always dark, even in day time, It felt like an over sized grave. She hadn't seen her father, or his angry guards in a while and she was wondering if he decided that she is useless to him, and just let her waste gradually in this hell hole.

She wondered what Nick thought of her now that he knew who she was, did he hate her? G-d knows she hates herself. He said something about her being out of reach, permanently damaged. What did that mean?

Her trail of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone coming down the hall, and the jingling of keys. Tracy stood still in the center of the room, preparing for the worst, she took a fighting stance. The door opened slowly and Lou stood there, with his cocky grin. He moved away from the door, and Turner walked in.

"I thought you left me to rot here!" Tracy said mockingly and let her fests down.

"I wouldn't do that to my daughter." Turner answered calmly.

"But you'd still put her in this hell hole!" Tracy shot back.

"One's children need some degree of discipline… think of it as me grounding you." He continued in his calm tone, but now he let a small smile come to his face.

"I'm not a child… and I never needed you to ground me or anything else!" Tracy shouted angrily.

"No but you needed Jack didn't you?" Turner said bitterly.

"Jack cared for what happened to me! Which is more than I can say about you!" Tracy gave her father a cold glance.

For a second Turner seemed hurt by what Tracy had told him, but he wouldn't let it show.

"You don't know what kind of plans had for you!"

"You wanted me to become a monster! A killer!" Tracy accused him.

"If that's what it takes to keep you alive I would have done anything" Turner sounded as if he wanted his daughter to understand, but Tracy wasn't buying it.

"I would rather die than become what you want me to be!" Tracy spat.

"Very well Tracy. I came here in the hope that you would understand what I wanted for you… but now I am certain that you need more effective methods of persuasion." He knocked on the door and George and Lou appeared.

"Do as I told you." Turner pointed at Tracy.

George and Lou headed for Tracy and they were soon in a full blown fight. Tracy managed to avoid injury this time, except for her nose, that she was now certain is broken. Suddenly more guards appeared and she was out numbered, soon they had her restrained, although still struggling.

Her father appeared with a syringe, and Tracy started to kick and struggle harder, but the guards held her down firmly.

"Don't worry, its just a little sedative… to keep you out of trouble until we get things ready." He said tapping the syringe and inserted it into Tracy's flesh.

"Get what ready!" she demanded as her strength began to fade because of the sedative.

"A final test." Were the last words she heard as the, now familiar, darkness swallowed her.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"We found them?" Weiss asked, just to make sure.

"Yes," Jack assured. "Marshall traced that last call Turner made to my cell phone. He found a target 30 miles away from here."

"We have to get going." Sydney said as she gathered some of things they had ready for this type of mission.

"I'll drive." Vaughn volunteered. Jack threw him the keys to the van.

While in the car the team discussed their approach. They would spilt in 3 groups of two. Jack and Edward would look through the basement. Weiss and Vaughn will cover the ground floor, and the outer surroundings. Nadia and Sydney would take the upper levels.

Marshall had sent them pictures of the HQ. it looked liked a normal country mansion, and there is no way to tell where the prisoners would be kept. So the teams will have to do their own sweeps, and will be monitored by Marshall and Dixon at the base.

The only sure thing was that the place was swarming with guards. Mostly concentrated on the upper levels and the mansion's outer grounds.

"I'm sorry… I wanted to have more information for you guys… but we're under a dead line.. this is the best I can do." Marshall sounded regretful on the speaker phone.

"It's fine, we can work with this." Jack said coolly. Little details didn't matter right now, all he wanted was to take Tracy home.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

This time Tracy didn't feel as groggy when she woke up, and she was sure that she wasn't out for a long time.

She soon noticed that she had been moved, into a bigger room with bright white walls, matching floor, and what appeared to be a mirror window like those in integration rooms.

Tracy didn't waste time getting up now, she was soon on her feet. She surveyed the room more accurately this time, and noticed that the walls were sound proof, and that there was a door next to the window, but it hadn't been obvious since it was painted the same bright white as the walls.

She approached he window, sure that her father was watching her through it. She only saw her reflection, he eyes were wide, and he nose was swollen and bruised. There were deep circles below her eyes, and he faced seemed hollowed up. She had obviously lost the weight she never needed to get rid of.

"C'mon Turner!" She howled at the window. "Where this damn test!"

There was no reply so Tracy slammed her fists against the window and walked back to the corner. She noticed a couple of video camera, and one of them seemed to move and follow her around. She looked at the camera angrily and gave it a finger.

She was getting frustrated as time went by, and she paced the abnormally bright room. The change from her dark, pitch black room, seemed to trouble her, the extremes of the two rooms were far too vast. She headed back to the window, and started shouting at it. Still nothing changed.

Tracy realized that she was getting angrier and angrier by the second, so she sat down and took deep cleansing breaths. This is exactly what her father wants, she realized. He wanted her to get angry, because that's when she looses her control.

It seemed that all Tracy had to do was calm herself down. Cause that's when Lou came in.

"Hey Lou! Hasn't been long has it!" she looked at him mockingly, but didn't move, a smile on her face.

"Boss thought he should get you psychologically ready for the test." He matched her mocking tone.

Other guards came in from behind him. They approached Tracy and lifted her to her feet and restrained her, so she couldn't even move her fingers. Tracy didn't try to struggle, she didn't want to give them what they wanted. Lou approached Tracy and touched her face gently and then punched her in the face.

"Is this what it's about, Lou?" Tracy said, her voice unshaken. "You wanna hit me? Tell me… do you get off on hitting woman? Is that what makes your little officer stand at attention?"

"Baby, as much as I like beating the crap outta you," he said cupping her face with his hand. "this isn't about hurting you… it's about hurting him."

He looked towards the door, and two other guards came in holding a hand cuffed, blindfolded man.

"Nick" Tracy whispered.

"Yup! That's good ol' Doc Nick!" Lou said loudly. "He's here because the Boss thinks that he can help you deal with your issues."

Lou walked towards Nick and lifted his blindfold. Nick seemed drugged but no completely unconscious, like a heavily intoxicated man.

"Look Nick! It's your little friend!" Lou said cruelly as Nick struggled to stay straight.

"What do you want with him!" Tracy asked forcefully. "Leave him alone!"

"I cant do that!" Lou moved his finger. "He's here because the boss gave me clear and direct orders!"

Lou reached to his belt and took a knife out a leather pocket. At the sight of it's glimmer Tracy began to struggle to get loose. Kicking and lifting herself, but the guards that were holding her were too strong.

"Nick I need you to look at me" Lou lifted Nick head with his hand. "The boss says hi." And he plunged the knife into Nicks chest. Nick let out a whimper of pain, and the guards holding him up let him fall to the ground. His blood pooled underneath him, it screamed against the bright white floor.

Tracy's eyes were wide as she watched the life seep out of her friend, her heart racing. She let out an inhuman cry and somehow got herself out of the grip of the men holding here. The world seemed to go blurry, yet come into focus all together. Her senses heightened and she felt her muscles flex in a way she never felt them before.

She went for the men holding her first. She found herself aiming for the chest and the head. Places she knew would be the most damaging. She felt ribs crack under her kicks, and cheek bones crumple under her fists. She broke their necks and let them fall to the ground, lifeless.

It all happened so fast all Lou could do was watch wide eyed. The guards the were holding Nick, dashed for the door, and before Lou could follow suit Tracy kicked him in the chest, sending him flying into a wall. He dropped the knife and slumped down to the ground. Tracy grabbed the knife with one hand, and lifted Lou to his feet with the other. She swiftly got a grab of his neck and sliced the knife over it.

Blood came rushing through the long cut and Lou let out a sickening gurgle as he faded away. Tracy held him tightly not allowing him to fall the ground. Blood covered her hands, and stained her clothes. She wasn't really there, she felt like she was watching herself doing this. Suddenly she came to her senses and let him go. She looked at the carnage in front of her, horrified.

"That's my girl!" she heard he father's voice coming from the door.

Tracy turned to find him, only to feel a burn in chest as her feet collapsed from underneath her. She lost all control of her self, and was on the ground twitching. She felt another burn and her body jolted with incredible pain, and merciful darkness followed.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Edward just sat in the van quietly, thinking of Tracy. He felt physically pained that she might be somewhere being tortured or killed slowly. He liked it better when he thought she was at peace, in a better place. Now nothing made sense.

_"They say that you can know a person from their eyes." Edward brushed a hair away from Tracy's face. She came closer and snuggled closer to him. Both of them laid in bed._

_"Is that so?" Tracy asked mischievously, and locked her eyes with his._

_He felt his breath get knocked out of his lunges as he gazed into her eyes. There was something so eerie about them, their pale blue color was so cool and warm at the same time… he never understood them. He felt his chest fill with such indescribable love, nonetheless._

_"I love you, you know that don't you?" Edward said not breaking eye contact. _

_He was so mesmerized with her eyes, that he barely noticed that she was kissing him, until she starting giggling, her lips still soft and warm on his._

_"You're like a love stricken teenager." She said against his face. Her breath touched his face gently. _

_She laid back on the bed and she let him pull her against his chest. Her eyes already closed, half asleep._

_"I never loved anyone before I met you." She whispered and fell into a light sleep._

_Edward leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her lips, and fell asleep like that. He never felt happier in his life. _

Two months later he got the call. Tracy was dead. Sergey's head quarters were found filled with dead bodies. A work of another shady organization, they told him. Tracy was among the dead, but it was too risky to bring her body in. They told him she was berried on site.

He never questioned her death, why would the CIA lie to him. When he heard that Sergey's brother was looking for his niece, he went looking for revenge. Now more than ever, nothing made sense to him.

_The rain hadn't stopped for three days, it seemed to have started that day they told him that Tracy was gone. _

_The graveyard was darker than it was the day he buried his brother. The air smelled of soil. And all that Edward could do was watch as an ivory coffin was slowly lowered into the ground. On top of it dozens of red roses, that screamed against it . _

_His rose was still in his hand._

_He asked for one with the thorns still on, and as he held it tighter and tighter, the thorns drew more and more blood. When the coffin finally reached the bottom of the cold narrow grave, Edward approached it._

_As he looked down at it, he was thankful that Tracy wasn't really inside that coffin. But grimaced at the thought of what her real grave would be like. He let the red rose go, its green stem stained with his blood. _

_He stood there until the priest put his hand on his shoulder._

_"Let her go son, she's in a better place now." Edward nodded and the priest walked away. _

_Edward's eyes followed the priest as he walked towards Gloria, Tracy's aunt. The old woman was sitting in a wheel chair looking blankly at Tracy's grave. Edward saw the gleaming reflection of Tracy's marble head stone in her glassy eyes. _

_It was a sobering thought, that he wasn't the only one that was grieving for Tracy. That's when he looked around for the first time. Tracy's friends from work, had a look of utter disbelief on their faces. Some were crying, one or two tears on their faces, but others were just in denial._

_Edward felt hot tears against his face for the first time since that day. They mixed with the rain, and fell to the ground, and quenched the thirst of dead graves. _

He never should have believed that she was dead, he should have looked for her, taken her away form this life before it sucked them in more and more. But now it was too late. He knew that. All he wanted was to see Tracy one more time, to feel her lips against his.

"We're here." Vaughn said from the front of the van.

As Edward stepped out of the van he looked at the sky, beautiful and blue and let a prayer escape.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: alright! Chapter twelve! What do you think?… there's only one way to know… leave me a review on your way out.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**A/N: Yah I know I took a very very very long time on this… but a lot has been going on but I don't want to bore you…. Do me a huge favor and read the chapter and tell me what you think. **

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Tracy thought she was dead. The pain was just too horrible to have left her alive. But then she started to slip back into consciousness.

This time had been different than any other time she was drugged or sedated. She wasn't put into a quiet darkness. This time she had had nightmares, clear and vivid ones. Ones that had left her shaking.

As soon as she painfully adjusted to the brightness of the room she realized why. There was blood on most of the bright walls and floor of the room. And the bodies of two guards, Lou, and Nick laid on the floor unmoved.

Tracy began to find it hard to breathe. She finally managed to hug her legs to her chest and began to rock herself, until it was too painful to even do that. Tears were falling freely from her eyes, and quiet sobs began to wrack her body.

She began to remember what happened but only managed to recollect the events up to Nick being murdered. Then again, she didn't have to remember exactly what happened. She knew.

She knew that she was capable of killing Lou and the other two guards that laid mere feet away from Nick's dead body. She knew that she did so in anger, and in anger she never could control herself. But she also knew that this is what her father had wanted all along. He wanted her to kill in cold blood again. He wanted to see the strength at which she could strike. And seeing the carnage around, Tracy knew she didn't disappoint.

Her hands were sticky with the drying blood, which she was sure was Lou's. Although she was happy to see that man dead, she never wanted to be the one to kill him. Not like this anyway.

Tracy closed her eyes tightly and tried to force the visual image of the room out of her head. She couldn't, and she knew that this will haunt her for the rest of her life. Her eyes flew open again, and she struggled to control the darting thoughts in her head. Soon she had let herself slip somewhere else. A blank expression on her face.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

One by one the guards went down. They were not prepared as the APO team had anticipated.

"Grounds and Ground-level clear." Vaughn said into his com, then turned to Weiss. "I'll go and give Jack some back up on the lower floors. You go find Syd and Nadia."

Weiss nodded and continued towards a flight of stairs.

Vaughn watched his friend as he stalked away, making sure he got his back covered, then began to look for the hidden stairwell that Jack and Edward had gone through. Finally he decided to ask Marshall.

"I need the location of the hidden stairwell, Merlin." He said into his comm. quietly not risking being heard.

"Through the north corridor. Theirs a room… an office… at the right. The door to the stairwell behind the bar. Copy that Shotgun?" Marshall's voice through the comm. asked.

"I copy." Vaughn answered as he began to walk down the very long north corridor.

When he got to the end of the corridor, Vaughn open the room to his right. His gun pulled up ready to shoot anyway that tried to attack. When he was satisfied the room was clear he relaxed.

He looked around again, this time checking for little details. There was nothing personal about the office. There weren't any personal touches. A quirky something or another. Not a single picture of a loved one, a family member, a friend, or even a pet.

When his roaming eyes found the bar, Vaughn approached it. He began to seek some button or a switch to reveal the door. He found nothing.

"Merlin, this is Shotgun. How do find the door?" Vaughn said as he leaned on the drink cabinet. It suddenly moved and a door appeared. Vaughn was surprised it was nothing more than a hydraulic system.

"Never mind that Merlin." He mumbled into the comm. and walked in. What he first saw was a long winding set of stairs. He breathed a sigh, looked back at the office, then began to walk down the stairs.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"Is it too quite in here or is it just me?" Edward hadn't seen a single guard since they made it down to the basement, and that wasn't a good thing.

Jack looked back at him with an icy look and just turned back. Inside he was getting a sinking feeling too.

Out of now where two guards jumped out from behind a corner. Edward mumbled something about speaking too soon, and began to fight.

The guards didn't have guns, and they seemed to be scared of something. Jack knew for sure now that something was up. Finally the guards were laying lifeless on the ground.

"Something isn't right." Jack simply said and continued on his way.

He and Edward reached the end of the hallway. It crossed with another one, almost in the middle.

"What are we going to do now?" Edward looked to Jack, knowing that he was indisputably the boss here.

"We split up. You take right and I take left." Jack answered.

Edward nodded and began to go his way, when Jack stopped him.

"You be careful, and call for back up when you need it. No one's a hero today you understand me." Jack give him a firm look, and as soon as Edward nodded, Jack was on his way.

Edward went down the right corridor. It was more quiet and soon it was evident it was some kind of holding wing. There were many doors and Edward went frantic trying to open all of them to see if he could find Tracy.

Finally he came to the last door, it was half open so he pushed it and peered inside. There was nothing that could prepare him for what he saw.

The holding cell was big, huge was the word. It was the biggest from the ones he had seen. It had white walls and floor tiles, but most of them were smeared in red bright blood. Bodies were lying on the ground and some one was huddling on the far corner of the room.

The hair on the back of his neck stood on end when he realized who it was. He slowly walked towards Tracy, then started sprinting when he realized that she could be hurt. He finally stood besides her and gulped. She wasn't moving. Just hugging her knees to her chest and her head down. He could tell that she was covered in blood too.

Edward crouched besides her. "T-Tracy?" he whispered. She slowly looked up at him with dead eyes, and a helpless look that made his heart break. She didn't recognize him, and he could tell she wouldn't recognize herself at this point.

"Tracy what did they do to you?" He continued whispering afraid he would somehow startle her if he spoke loudly. She just continued to stair blankly at him.

"Tracy," he whispered lovingly and touched her hair. "cant you recognize your Eddie?" tears began to fill his eyes.

"Eddie?" she asked and her eyes began to change. "Eddie?"

"I'm gonna take you home, Tracy. It's enough." He said as she touched his face gently.

She gave him a smile that made him feel like a child. "Can't go home Eddie. I'm dead." She said simply.

"No Tracy! You're alive! Look at you! You're a mess! Who did this to you?" he asked anger seeping into his voice.

"It's what I did.. Eddie… it's what I did." Her eyes began to go blank again.

"No Tracy! No! you stay with me here! I'm gonna get you outta here!" he began to shake her, and she looked at him.

"How could you love? How could you love me now?" Tracy said and a single tear made its way down her cheek. Edward finally saw her face. It was bruised and blue. Someone really took their time to hit her in every corner.

He just kissed her dry and wounded lips, he felt her wince in pain, and pulled back. "I'll always love you. No matter what." He told he tenderly.

"You sure about that Mr. Richards?" A voice he didn't recognize came from behind him. He turned to face the voice and it was an older man, almost as old as Jack, with a gun aimed at him and Tracy.

"If you don't mind, I don't like anyone kissing my little girl in my presence. You know father issues." The man said sarcastically.

_Turner!_ Edward realized, a blaze of fury shinned in his eyes, and he slowly got to his feet.

"Excuse me on being rude, but I believe you have forfeited your rights as a father Mr. Maxwell." Edwards said bitterly.

"Ah!" Turner smiled knowingly. "And where is my old friend Jack? He's around here isn't he?"

Edward just looked angrily at him. "What did you do to her?" he demanded to know.

"I just killed a gentleman when he began to cause too much trouble. Our girl over there go angry and killed three of my best men." Turner said matter-of-factly.

"She wouldn't!" Edward refused to believe.

"She would if you hurt someone she loves." He said as he fired a bullet into Edward.

Edward gasped in pain and looked at his wound, and collapsed to the floor.

"No!" Tracy shouted, suddenly got up, and charged at Turner. She held him be his neck and he didn't seem to fight her off.

"You cant kill me Tracy. You cant kill your father." He said calmly and reached for a knife on his belt. Before Tracy could do anything he stabbed her in the arm. She let out a yelp of pan and let Turner slip from her hands.

He ran for the door and soon disappeared. Tracy was going after him when she heard the meek whisper.

"Tracy" It was Edward. Tracy ran towards him, sat next to him, and put his head on he lap. She slowly began to cry.

"D-don't cry." He said weakly as he she caressed his hair. "I'm f-fine"

She gave a small laugh, and looked down at him painfully. "It's not supposed to be like this."

His look turned serious and he took Tracy's hand. "You're m-my one, Tracy. Don't you f-forget that."

He guided her hand to the chain around his neck. "T-take it."

Tracy took it off and held it in her hand. A small sob escaped her lips, it had her ring hung on it. "I never loved before you." Tracy whispered.

She leaned in for one last kiss on the lips. Tracy could feel his last breath escape, and a sob escaped her lips still locked with his.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack saw it all. He saw Turner taunt Edward and shoot him, he saw him stabbing Tracy in the arm. And he watched in complete shock as Edward and Tracy share their final embrace.

Finally he felt himself pull out of the state of shock. He looked towards the screens that surveyed what Jack gathered was Tracy's holding cell. Tracy was still holding a dead Edward in her arms, blood curdling screams escaping her lips.

"That son of a bitch!" Jack shouted as he began to run out of the surveillance room. Turner was killing Tracy, and he was going to kill Turner.

He ran down the hall at full speed finally reaching the point where he and Edward had split. A few steps later he ran into Turner.

Turner's shirt was stained with Tracy's blood. When he saw Jack he stopped in his tracks and gave him a mischievous smile.

"Well well! Isn't it my old friend Jack Bristow! What took you so long?" Turner continued to smile as Jack raised his gun.

"It's over Turner." Jack said calmly although he was simmering with anger.

"Oh c'mon Jack! That is so melodramatic don't you think?" Turner chuckled. "Put your gun down Jack and let's settle this the way we did back in the day. That is unless you're too old for that now"

Jack just put his gun on the floor and started towards Tuner, throwing a punch that caught him square in the jaw.

"I was always better than you Turner, as a fighter and father." Jack gave a hint of a smile.

Turner's eyes flashed with anger and he hit Jack back.

"You took away my daughter, Jack! I never got to be a father!" Turner Kicked Jack but Jack caught it and set him off balance.

"You're not doing a great job at it so far Turner.. killing your daughter's lover isn't good." Jack looked down at Turner with disgust.

Tuner reached for the knife and stabbed Jack in the calf, before Jack had a chance to defend himself. As Jack went down, Turner got to his feet quickly.

"You're too old for this Jack, get a Desk somewhere." Turner kicked in the head and Jack fell to the ground, unconscious.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Marshall had never been this nervous while monitoring a mission, and he was a fairly easily agitated person.

Everyone was radio silent until they cleared their levels, Vaughn was out of Radio silence as he had cleared his level. He and Weiss had split up and Vaughn was following Jack. That's all he told him, before he went radio silent again.

That was almost half an hour ago, no one else had broken radio silence, and Marshall was getting frantic.

"Merlin?" it was Sydney's voice that finally streamed in. "I cant reach Shotgun or Raptor." Her voice was laced with concern.

"Raptor and Freshman hadn't broken radio silence, Shotgun has joined them." He was surprised when he didn't fumble over his words like he did usually.

"I'm going to see if they need any backup, Phoenix…" before Sydney could say 'out' there was commotion and gun shots.

"Son of a…" Sydney shouted and Marshall could hear her through the comm. Link.

"Weiss behind…" It was Nadia now.

"Phoenix? Evergreen? Anyone copy!" Marshal said loudly into the comm..

There was more gunshots and screaming, but all of a sudden all was silent.

"Evergreen? Phoenix?" Marshall shouted his voice filled with terror.

"Do you COPY? SYD CAN YOU HEAR ME!" but all the greeted marshal was silence. Deafening silence.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**TBC.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter Fourteen**

**A/N: hmmm…. No reviews? I think I had that coming! But please! All I need is one review! Be cruel! I don't mind… as long as I know that some one is reading! PLEASE!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"You guys ok!" Weiss looked around to find Sydney and Nadia. They were standing not far from him, their guns still smoking.

Nadia nodded and Sydney looked at the bullet riddled bodies for their assailants. The two men came out of no where and jumped them, it took them a while but these guys were dead.

"My comm. link is broken I think." Sydney said as she pulled a tiny phone from her ear. "The guy must have broken it when he kicked me in the head."

"It's alright, we'll just stick together." Weiss said simply. "You sure you're ok?"

Sydney just waved away his concern, then she remembered Marshall's voice in her ear as the fight broke out.

"what now?" Nadia asked. "The level is defiantly cleared."

"Weiss contact base ops, tell Marshal that we're ok and that we're heading down stairs, I have a feeling that's where the action is at." Sydney said as she already headed downstairs.

As Nadia followed her sister she felt that strange sense of foreboding, this is not going to end well at all.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

All that Tracy could do was watch as all her hope faded. Edward, her Eddie, her second chance at life was dead. He was as dead as a nail in her arms, his lips still warm from her kiss goodbye.

She just sat there and stared at his body for what seemed like hours, and weeks. Slowly she began to regain control of her racing mind and felt herself become relatively human again, but not like she was. Without him, she will never be what she was.

Now all she was, was a killer. A mere puppet in her father's sinister plans.

At the thought of her father, Tracy became consumed by aching anger, hate, but mostly guilt. That man took away her humanity, he took away her life, he took away everything.

"Well Turner," She whispered mincingly, in a voice changed with grief and anger. "If it's a murder you wanted… it's a murder you're going to get."

She slowly got up, and placed Edward's lifeless body on the ground. She leaned down to kiss him on the forehead and a little sob shivered through her lips. Tracy put her mouth to Edward's ear.

"I'm so sorry, baby… so sorry." She whispered and got up her tears dampening his cheeks.

In fast sprint Tracy was out of the room. Her hate and anger making her forget her agonizing injuries. The only thought in her mind was her fathers lifeless body, and revenge for Edward.

Edwards death would be avenged if it's the last thing she does.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Vaughn passed a couple of dead guards on the floor, Jack had clearly been there. He continued to walk down the long hallway when it suddenly split.

He didn't take long time to decide which way he was going to take, and he didn't second think it.

Vaughn decided to take the way that Edward chose. He walked cautiously down the hall way that three of his collogues have passed. The hall way where they lay dead, unconscious, or out for blood.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Turner watched his old friend laying on the ground, the man that took away his life. The feeling of betrayal was still fresh in his heart. He wouldn't have thought that Jack Bristow would stab him in the back.

"Look at we have don't Jack" he whispered bitterly.

Turner was distracted from his thoughts by the sound of running footsteps, some one was making his way to the cell he was standing in. He stepped into the darkened corner of the room. He blended in perfectly and no one would see him there, all he had to wait and play out his part.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Tracy was panting from the running. She's looked through every holding room and there was still not a single sign of Turner, and she was beginning to get frustrated. Before she would scream out in anger, she noticed something in the last room.

Tracy slowly walked into the room, her breath still heavy and he heart thumping angrily against her ribcage. There was some one on the ground, and Tracy's heart sank when she saw the person's face.

"Jack?" she whispered in disbelief.

She ran over him and checked for his pulse. He was alive, probably just knocked out. Tracy slowly got up and grabbed what looked like a pipe from the ground. Someone was probably still in the room.

"Who's there!" she demanded "I know you're there Turner! Come on out and let's finish this!"

The only response she got was the cold muzzle of a gun, aimed to the back of her head.

"Drop the pipe, and turn around." A harsh voice said from behind her. "It's all over now."

Tracy gulped, the voice wasn't Turner's. It was some one else.

"You're making a mistake… Michael." Tracy said as she turned to face him.

Vaughn's green eyes met hers, they were wild with anger. How dare she say his name so calmly.

"So you went after Jack too? You little ingrate!" Vaughn shouted as he shoved the gun closer to her.

"I found Jack, Michael, that's all… just like you found me now." Tracy answered coolly.

"No body else could see through you, Tracy but I could." Vaughn's voice wasn't getting any warmer when he spoke. "They just thought I was getting paranoid. But look at you now… standing over Jack with a pipe."

"I didn't do it! I found him like this." Tracy hissed.

"Just like all those dead guards in Vladimir's, right? You never kill for sport, just for self-defense, don't you?" He said bitterly. "well I beg to differ, Maxwell."

"This is a mistake!" Tracy protested.

"No it's not, its correcting a mistake." Vaughn backed away and aimed carefully.

"Don't do something you will regret Michael!"

Vaughn's eyes never diverted from Tracy's. A shot ran out through the room and the sickening smell of burned flesh and fresh blood filled the room.

Tracy's eyes were wide with shock, as she took a shuddering short breath. She touched her stomach and it felt warm and sticky. Crimson blood oozed through her fingers. Tracy looked one last time at Vaughn, with a look of puzzlement on her face, before her knees buckled and she crumpled to the floor.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**Alright Chapter fourteen! I know it's short… but the next one is coming right up so bare with me… tell me what you think… please. It'll just take a minute but it'll mean a lot to me.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter Fifteen**

**A/N: ok you guys here we go THE LAST CHAPTER! Dramatic music please!**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Vaughn watched as Tracy crashed to the floor. His heart seemed to ache at her final look, she didn't understand.

It took him some time to realize, but he finally knew. It wasn't _his_ gun that had fired. His gun was still unfired, no smoke came from its barrel. He slowly put it down, but when he heard the sound of movement and it was up again.

Slowly, a figure appeared from behind where Tracy had been. The figure still had his gun up, clearly having shot Tracy.

"So you're Jack's backup?" the man said mockingly. "Interesting… I thought you folks were here to save my little girl, clearly you didn't like her. You almost killed her if I hadn't beat you to it."

The man laughed. Vaughn realized that it was Turner Maxwell, and he had just shot his own daughter. This realization came as a blow to the stomach, it meant that Tracy hadn't joined her father, that she was telling the truth.

"Shocked are you? That I would I kill my daughter? My own flesh and blood? Well believe me, she had more Jack in her than me. She is of no use to me…" Turner said as he looked down at Tracy, sprawled on the floor. "and to anyone, now"

"You bastard" Vaughn finally muttered.

"What's that?" Turner leaned closer with his hand cupped around his ear. "Gaining some compassion for Tracy now are you? Too bad young man… Michael is it? She wont appreciate it now."

Suddenly a groan came from the floor, and Jack began to stir.

"Looks like Jack isn't going to miss all the fun after all." Turner's eyes darted back and forth between Vaughn and Jack.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Jack hated being knocked out, he hated it more than anything. That was he was thinking as he began to drift back to consciousness.

The next thing he could think of was how he was going to kill Turner Maxwell.

He began to open his eyes, and his head hurt like it had a elephant sit on it. He groaned, and heard Turner's voice, but couldn't make out the words. He was clearly talking to someone else.

His eyes adjusted painfully to the light in the room, even though it wasn't more than what a couple of candles would provide. Again he heard Turner's voice and his heart was filled with hatred. The man was inhuman, doing that to his daughter.

As Jack became more aware of his surrounding, he realized that Turner had done something far worse to his daughter.

Around three feet from Jack was, Tracy was laying motionless on the floor. He could see a new wound on her stomach, and she wasn't moving.

_No! _Jack found himself screaming on the inside. _No! She cant be dead!_

"Oh come on Jack! You're going to miss on a whole lot if you're going to stay laying there." Turner's voice assaulted Jack's ears.

"Help Jack up!" He heard bark at someone and he soon felt someone lift him to his feet.

"It's me Jack." Vaughn whispered realizing the state of disorientation that Jack was in.

Jack was unsteadily on his feet but managed to stay standing when Vaughn let go. He was completely aware now.

"Glad you can joy us Jack, old friend." Turner talked to him as he pointed absently with his gun. The gun that shot Tracy. "Me and Michael here were going to play some mind games before I blow a hole in him too."

"You son of a…" Jack began to walk towards Turner aggressively.

"no no no, Jack." Turner said as he pressed his gun against Vaughn's head. "One more step and your friend here joins Eddie and Tracy in the hereafter."

Jack wanted to pounce on Turner, but he couldn't get Vaughn killed too. Too many people had died here today, and it had to stop. So he slowly put his hands up.

"This is between you and I, Turner. Let him go." Jack said calmly. "There's no one left here to help you. So give it up."

Turner seemed to explode with laughter, he laughed like he had heard the funniest joke of his life.

"Oh Jack! You always underestimate me don't you?"

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"No, no, no, no, no, no!" Marshall started shouting at his screens. "No! this cant happen!" he scrambled through his office and went to another monitor.

"Evergreen! Evergreen! Do you copy?" he said franticly into a little microphone. "I repeat do you copy?"

"I copy base-ops" Nadia's voice answered. "What is it?"

"We have a helicopter approaching your current position… seems to be carrying men, weapons and ammo." He said as he scrambled with other screens.

"ETA of the helicopter?" Nadia asked.

"three… four minutes max" Marshall did the math quickly. "I think you guys can handle them… but you need to get up there and fast!"

Sydney and the rest ran back up, being black op they don't get to have any back up or tactic teams come in.

After what seemed like running miles up stairs, they finally got the roof. The helicopter was about to land. One of the men saw them and started to shoot towards them. The team took cover as the man shouted and signaled to his companions.

"You think we have enough Ammo. for this?" Weiss shouted, to no one in particular, over the sound of the chopper's noise and un shots.

"We better make every shot count." Nadia shouted to him. A solemn look on her face. This mission was a disaster by all means.

Weiss took a second to squeeze her hand, and wish he could kiss her before he went back to firing at the men.

"Vaughn and Dad better not be late!" Sydney said, as the bullets continued to shower over them.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

"The second I heard your voice over the phone, I knew that I was up against a monster." Jack said coldly.

"Ah Jack! Careful with those words, you might hurt my feelings if I cared for your opinion!" Turner said in a mock hurt voice before he exploded into laughter again.

"You're a sick bastard!" Vaughn muttered bitterly. He was beginning to get sick thinking that he actually thought that Tracy would team up with such a monster.

"So young man!" Turner says as he nudges Vaughn bitterly. "You didn't seem to found of Tracy did you? Glad she's dead? Look at her pathetic form, just laying there. So anticlimactic don't you think!"

"She was you're daughter!" Jack screamed in outrage.

"Ah Jack she was. But alas, she's gone now. Look at her!" Turner pointed hatefully at her with his gun. "So useless! She could have killed him!" his gun now pointed at Vaughn now. "But she just stood there! She _begged_ him not to do something he might regret!"

"She was a good girl, Turner." Jack said coolly, although shocking up on the inside.

Vaughn just watched as the two older men fought over the dead body of a daughter. Yes, Vaughn realized, Tracy was Jack's surrogate daughter. She was a good person, and he had doubted her over a past she didn't choose.

"She wasn't like you!" Vaughn said harshly.

Turner turned towards Vaughn with wild angry eyes.

"She was MY DAGHTER! He took her from me! He destroyed her! He made her less than she was! He let her betray her destiny!" Turner shouted at the top of his lungs. "SHE WAS MINE!"

"Turner!" some one said in a firm whisper.

Three sets of baffled eyes turned to see Tracy on her knees, leaning on the wall, and holding Jack's discarded gun.

"I was never yours." Tracy said calmly as she lifted her gun. "never."

A single shot rang, and a single bullet escaped the muzzle.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

A dead silence settled on the roof as the gun shots stopped abruptly. Nadia could hear her racing heart as her eyes darted for her sister and boyfriend.

Sydney was still on the far right of Nadia just taking cover behind a huge air conditioning unit, her chest rising and falling heavily from the adrenaline rush.

Weiss was still close to Nadia looking around in what seemed like a panic trying to figure out if the shooters were all down.

"What do you think?" Weiss asked her.

"There's only one way to know." Nadia answered as she stuck out her arm from behind a ventilation fan. In response gun shot came showering.

Sydney gave Nadia a what-the-hell-was-that-? Look, and got up to her feet and shot back. Weiss and Nadia did the same. Soon the last two men who had fired at them were dead.

Sydney ran towards Weiss and Nadia who were dusting themselves off.

"C'mon! we need to know what's going on with dad, Vaughn, and Edward down there. This was supposed to be an extraction not a social call"

_Wow_, Weiss thought, _Someone takes after their Dad!_

Nadia had a weird worried look on her face, and Weiss waved his hand across her face.

"Hello?" he said in a sing-song voice. "You there Santos!"

Nadia snapped out of her little trans and gave Weiss an annoyed look.

"This is not going to end well" she said matter-of-factly, and snapped Weiss back to reality.

Nadia was right if Jack, and Vaughn weren't back it was because something major horrible had happened.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The bullet caught Turner right between the eyes. On his face the look of shock still engraved as he fell to the ground like the dead weight that he was now.

Jack could manage to shake himself out of shock long enough to see Turner fall to the ground, and look back towards Tracy.

Tracy just watched Turner fall to the ground with void eyes, then turn her eyes to meet Jack. A faint smile seemed to cross her face before her eyes rolled back into her head, and she started to fall.

"Tracy!" Jack caught her, but realized he was too late. She was dead before he reached her, before he uttered her said her name.

Tracy laid in Jack's arm, dead. Her body limp and stiff at the same time. And all that Jack could do was lay her down to the floor, gently. He slowly ran his hand through her dirty and blood-caked hair. Her blank eyes seem to look to the sky, cold, but still that peculiar shade of blue.

Vaughn watched quietly as Jack raised his hand to shut Tracy's eyes, and a lump grew in his throat. Jack wasn't crying, but his eyes were tender with love and grief although they weren't watery.

For a long moment Jack just sat there, now Tracy's body firmly in his arms, and Vaughn just watching the incredible scene with a huge sense of loss, regret, and remorse.

The sound of people and running foot steps woke Vaughn up from his shock, but when he looked at Jack he was still holding Tracy. Just looking at her.

Vaughn took a gun from the floor, but through it back in disgust realizing it was Turner's gun, it was the gun that killed his fallen companion. And pick up another.

He rounded the corner quickly and found himself aiming the gun at Sydney. He let the gun go from his arm and pulled Sydney and held her for a few seconds, he didn't say a word he just held her.

The way that Vaughn was acting was scaring Sydney, and she at last pulled away.

"Vaughn where's dad?" She said in a concerned voice.

"Syd, I…" he began to say, when she cut him off fearing the worst.

"Where is he Michael?" she said forcefully.

Vaughn just nodded towards the room he was just in and watch Sydney dash towards it, leaving him behind, Nadia soon followed her.

"What happened man?" Weiss put his hand on his friend's shoulder. Vaughn said nothing and continued behind Sydney, Weiss followed him.

Sydney and Nadia were just standing after the threshold, they seemed to be in complete shock at the sigh in front of them.

"Dad?" Sydney seemed to whisper finally. She started to come closer to him, and called him again. He didn't look up.

Nadia turned towards Vaughn with questioning eyes.

"she's dead…. " Vaughn whispered, defeated.

Nadia just stared back at him, clearly caught in grief.

"And Edward?" Weiss asked, and it dawned to Vaughn that he didn't know where Edward Richards was, or what happened to him.

"C'mon let's find him." Both men left to look for Edward down the hall. It wasn't long before they found him, Nick, Lou and the others dead.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

The team used the chopper that was still on the roof to get back to the main road, somewhere they could easily picked up. It wasn't an option to carry two dead bodies down to the main road.

When Sydney finally managed to get Jack out of his trans, relatively. He told Sydney to stay with Tracy's body and went down the hall to see Edward's. He saw that Vaughn and Weiss had been there, and kneeling besides him.

Jack cleared his throat and they moved out of the way. He kneeled besides Edward and looked at him keenly.

"I'm sorry" he whispered before he got up and told Vaughn and Weiss to carry him.

Jack went back to where Tracy laid and carried her himself. He told Sydney that she would fly them to the road and that Nadia would call Marshal and tell him where they would expect to have pick up.

They all were rushed into the black van on a deserted road, and drove to the air strip where an air plane was already waiting for them.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Marshall went home once he heard about the team being on the air plane back home. But that wasn't all he heard. He now knew that Tracy was dead, killed by her own father.

He drove home in shock, and began to breathe heavily as he got out from his Mini Cooper and rang the door bell to his own house, having forgotten the keys in the office amidst all his anger.

Carrie came to the door, with Mitchell propped up against her thigh. When she saw her husband in a wrinkled suite and shirt, with a look of incredible sadness on her face her heart sank.

"Marshal, baby? What's going on?" she said in a kind warm voice. Marshal just went into the house and she followed him. He continued to the living room walking aimlessly.

Carrie put the baby down and looked at her husband as he played with his son's fine hair.

"What is it?" this time moving closer to him.

Marshall just looked at her for a long second before he embraced her and began sobbing in her arms like a child. All the Carrie could do was hold her husband and stroke his back, whispering to him that it was ok.

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

Tracy's body was taken back to DC and berried in her empty grave in the night when now one watched. Edward's death was disguised as a mugging and a funeral was held for him a week later. All the members of the team watched from afar as he was berried next to Tracy.

Vaughn had some unresolved guilt towards the whole situation, and had his own demons to work through. Se he stayed with Sydney for a couple of weeks after the mission. Both of them consoled by each others presents, but they didn't really talk about it.

Weiss also stayed with Nadia and helped her through her rather spoken fears about what had happened.

But eventually it all came back to normal. It always did. That's what it took to survive, you just move on.

This was hardest for Jack, however. He still couldn't get the image of Tracy's eyes rolling the back of her head. Over and over it played in Jack's head, with every breath he took he watched Tracy die.

Finally, Jack realized what it would take to start healing, to start to deal with Tracy's death. He was going to someone who had shared his loss.

Jack took a couple of days off and went to DC, where he floated aimlessly until he drove his rented car to that door, and knocked. He realized he hadn't been in here since Tracy was a small child.

"Yes?" a kind warm voice greeted him before, the tiny frame of Tracy's aunt Gloria followed. "Oh." She simply said as she opened the screen.

"Hello Gloria." Jack said, with a hint of a smile. "I hope I'm not bothering you."

"Not at all!" she said a bit surprised. "I just didn't think I would see you Jack… not after Beatrice's funeral."

"That's why I'm here." He said simply.

Gloria invited him in, and they both headed to the living room. It was filled with pictures of Tracy. Jack looked at some of them while Gloria went to fetch them something to drink. She returned to see Jack holding a picture of Tracy in a baseball uniform, she must have been around twelve.

"Is she gone, Jack?" Gloria said with some trace of hope in her mind. When Jack didn't show up at the funeral it, along with the lack of body, made her wonder if her Tracy was still out there somewhere.

Jack turned to her with a sad face.

"Two weeks ago." Jack had conformed her doubts that Tracy was still alive, was until two weeks ago.

"How?" she asked as she put the tray of tee she had brought in on a little table.

"It was Turner." Jack said weakly.

"That bastard! How could he! How could he! I thought he was dead!" Gloria said as tears began to fall to her cheeks, tears of anger and sorrow.

"He is now." Jack said coldly.

"Oh Jack!" Gloria said as she completely broke down in Jack's arms. Jack just stood there and held her awkwardly. He just felt comforted by the fact that he wasn't the only one morning a surrogate daughter.

Slowly he reached into his pocket and pulled out a little paper he found in Tracy's student apartment.

_It was all worth it because of the few moments that you gave me Uncle Jack… Thank you._

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**

**A/N: Wow! I gotta tell ya letting go was hard! But I was time to finish a story right… hope you liked it. I want to thank every one that reviewed and stuck in there during my long hiatus. I want you all to leave me a review please tell me what you think… honestly… if you liked it… if you hated it. If you ever read it… even if it was a year after I finished it I want to know what you think… EVERYONE if you read it… I want to know what you thought… now that point is stressed enough… have a nice life! Hope you read something of mine soon… LOVE,  
--Nat!**


End file.
